Modeling snow melting on heated pavement surfaces. Part II: Experimental validation

This paper describes an experimental validation exercise for a newly developed numerical model of the snow melting process on heated pavement surfaces. The model is able to predict the conditions of the snow, ice and water during the snow melting process on hydronically-heated pavements given time-varying weather and heating system boundary conditions. Validation results show that the model satisfactorily predicts the surface temperature and conditions, the degree of snow cover over the heated surface, and outlet fluid temperature given the weather data, inlet fluid temperature, and the fluid mass flow rate. It can therefore be used to analyze the performance of hydronic snow melting systems and can be used in the system design process. Development of the model is described in a companion paper.