United States Department of Transportation
i
Comparison of wintertime asphalt and concrete pavement surface temperatures on U.S. Route 40 near Heber, Utah.
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2014-06-01
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[PDF-2.17 MB]
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Abstract:Asphalt and concrete pavement surface temperatures were compared at a location on U.S. Route 40 in
northern Utah where asphalt and concrete meet end to end at the base of the mountain pass. An environmental
sensor station was installed to facilitate monitoring of asphalt and concrete pavement surface temperatures, as well
as selected climatic variables, at the site. To compare the surface temperatures of the concrete and asphalt
pavements during freezing conditions, multivariate regression analyses were performed on data collected during the
three winter seasons from 2009 to 2012. Equations were generated for three response variables, including the
asphalt surface temperature, concrete surface temperature, and difference in temperatures between the asphalt and
concrete surfaces.
The statistical models developed in the analyses show that the surface temperature of both asphalt and
concrete pavement increases with increasing air temperature and decreases with increasing relative humidity and
wind speed and that the difference in pavement temperatures decreases with decreasing air temperature. For the
studied site, the data indicate that concrete pavement will experience freezing before asphalt pavement for all time
periods except late afternoon, when the pavement types are predicted to freeze at the same air temperature.
Therefore, for material properties and environmental conditions similar to those evaluated in this study, asphalt
would require less winter maintenance, on average, than concrete. Due to the interactions among albedo, specific
heat, and thermal conductivity, the actual thermal behavior of a given pavement will depend on the material
properties and environmental conditions specific to the site.
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