Abstract:The bridge deck snow melting system based on energy piles utilizes clean and green geothermalenergy for snow melting and de-icing on roads, thereby reducing carbon emissions, which alignswith China's development direction under the "dual carbon" strategy. In the process of technological im plementation, design optimization is crucial for cost reduction. Through numerical simulation methods,the paper studied the heat production of the system in different climate zones in China and calculatedthe heat required for snow melting on bridge decks under three different levels of snow meltingtargets. Additionally, a cost estimation model was established to analyze the most cost-effective energypile-based snow melting scheme for representative cities in each climate zone. Based on this model,calculation software was developed to simplify the application process. The results showed that theconstruction and installation costs of the bridge deck and heat pump costs had the greatest impact onthe overall costs in short-term operations. However, in the long run, electricity prices became themost critical factor. With changes in heat flux demand, the total cost increase in electricity-based snowmelting system was about twice that of energy pile-based system. In harsh climates and with morestringent snow melting targets, the relative saving curve of the energy pile-based snow melting systemwas steeper, showing significant advantages. Moreover, national policy support can offset the high initialinvestment cost of this system, enhancing its market competitiveness.
