Modeling and assessment of operation economic benefits for hydronic snow melting pavement system

Hydronic snow melting pavement systems have been proposed as an energy conservation technology for pavement snow removal in response to global climate change. However, the quantification of these systems’ economic benefits remains unclear, and their operational decision-making does not consider the economic cost. This study proposes a novel method for calculating the hydronic snow melting pavement system’s economic cost and investigating the economic benefit evolution. A 2D thermo-economic model is developed. Measured data from the Beijing Daxing International Airport are utilized to validate the accuracy of the model, and the economic cost temporal variation under given snowfall conditions is demonstrated. Moreover, an extensive parametric analysis of economic cost is conducted, and sensitive parameters are identified. Then, a real operation case study under a comprehensive scenario is presented. Results show that economic cost can be divided into rapid reduction period (RRP) and stable period (SP). Fluid temperature can affect economic cost with a high fluid temperature resulting in a high economic cost in SP and a prolonged RRP. In the case study, the operation method with 0 h idling time can improve the snow melting performance and increase the economic cost by 7% compared with the method of opening after snowfall. The method with 3 h idling time can achieve optimal snow melting performance. However, its economic cost is 32 % higher than that of the method with 0 h idling time. Furthermore, staged heating method can reduce the economic cost by 7.9 % relative to constant heating method, thus providing an alternative cost-efficient solution.