Ice Prevention Or Removal on the Veteran's Glass City Skyway Cables Interim Report
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Ice Prevention or Removal on the Veteran's Glass City Skyway Cables Interim Report Douglas Nims, Ph.D., P.E. Department of Civil Engineering, University of Toledo for the Ohio Department of Transportation Office of Innovation, Partnerships and Energy Innovation, Research and Implementation Section State Job Number 134489 June 2011 1 Acknowledgements Chapter 6, The Ice Fall Dashboard, is based on the work of graduate students Mr. Jason Kumpf and Mr. Shekhar Agrawal and faculty Dr. Arthur Helmicki and Dr. Victor Hunt of the University of Cincinnati Infrastructure Institute and was primarily written by them. University of Toledo graduate students Mr. Ali arbabzadegan and Mr. Joshua Belknap made observations and took the video and photos of the ice February 2011 icing event. Chapter 7, February and March 2011 Icing Events, was primarily written by Mr. Belknap. This project was performed under the aegis of the University of Toledo – University Transportation Center. The continuous support of Director Richard Martinko and Associate Director Christine Lonsway has made this project possible. This project was sponsored and supported by the Ohio Department of Transportation. The authors gratefully acknowledge their financial support. The authors thank Ms. Kathleen Jones and Dr. Charles Ryerson of the U.S. Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory for the frequent discussions about the project and extensive analysis and support in developing the criteria for the ice fall dashboard. The author would also like to thank Mr. Mike Madry from ODOT for access to the bridge and assistance in observing the icing events and Mr. Jeff Baker (now retired from ODOT) for his assistance in defining criteria for the ice fall dashboard. 2 Executive Summary The Veteran’s Glass City Skyway (VGCS) is a large cable - stayed bridge in Toledo, Ohio owned by the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT). The VGCS carries I-280 over the Maumee River. Four times in the three winters the VGCS has been in service ice has formed on the stay cable sheaths. Ice accumulations have been up to approximately 5/16” thick and the ice conforms to the cylindrical shape of the stay sheath. As the stays warm, they shed the ice in curved sheets that fall up to two hundred and fifty feet to the roadway and the pieces of ice can be blown across several lanes of traffic on the bridge deck. The falling ice sheets require lane closures and could present a potential hazard to the traveling public. The research team’s goal for this project is to broadly define and cost several viable long term solutions to the ice falling from the stay cables. The stay sheaths of the VGCS are unique: they are made of stainless steel, have a brushed finish, lack the usual helical spiral and have a large diameter. No existing ice anti/deicing technology was found to be practical for the VGCS Because of the unique nature of the problem, the need for a quick response and the specialized nature of the icing knowledge required, this problem has been addressed with an expert team. The team includes experts in icing from the U.S. Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory and the NASA Glenn Icing Branch, the ODOT project managers from the bridge construction, the engineers who designed and implemented the existing structural strain measurement system on the bridge, and experts in green technology. The tasks that have been completed are: a background study that included weather conditions for the past icing incidents and an assessment of the state-of-the-art, assembly of a comprehensive data base of existing anti/deicing solutions, an assessment of these available technologies to determine the most promising, and an evaluation of the most promising technologies to arrive at a small set of potentially viable technologies. To continue to develop these candidate solutions in sufficient detail for costing requires detailed knowledge of the microclimate of the bridge, the conditions of the stays during an icing event, the thermal behavior of the stays and the efficacy of anti/deicing chemicals on the stays in the bridge environment. This information is essential to developing an anti/deicing system that will be successful on the VGCS stays in the bridge’s environment. The information required falls into three broad categories: information about the conditions on the bridge before, during and after icing events, information necessary to make an accurate thermal model, and information about the efficacy of anti-icing/de-icing chemicals. The next step after this project would include the analysis, design and validation testing of a solution concept. The implementing the final solution is likely to take several winters. ODOT has an immediate need to protect the traveling public and tune their response. The ice research team is developing insights into the nature of the icing on the VGCS that can be of immediate assistance to ODOT. The research team is to developing an “Ice Fall Dashboard” to get actionable information in the hands of those who must anticipate and respond to an icing event the end of the 2010-2011 icing season begins. 3 Table of Contents Cover Page ...................................................................................................................................... 1 Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................................... 2 Executive Summary ........................................................................................................................ 3 Table of Contents ............................................................................................................................ 4 List of Figures ................................................................................................................................. 6 List of Tables .................................................................................................................................. 8 1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 9 1.1 Statement of the Problem .................................................................................................. 9 1.2 Completed Tasks ............................................................................................................. 10 1.3 Required Information ...................................................................................................... 11 1.4 Ice Fall Dashboard .......................................................................................................... 11 2. Expert Team Approach ............................................................................................................. 11 3. Veteran’s Glass City Skyway Icing Background ...................................................................... 14 3.1 Stay Description .............................................................................................................. 14 3.2 History of Icing Incidents on the VGCS ......................................................................... 15 3.3 Available Sensor Information ......................................................................................... 19 3.4 Information Available on the Intranet Site ..................................................................... 20 4. First Phase Objectives ............................................................................................................... 20 4.1 Objectives 1 and 2: Identify available technologies and assess the state of the art. ....... 20 4.2 Objective 3: Viable technologies. ................................................................................... 22 4.3 Objective 4: Identify the most viable solutions. ............................................................. 25 4.4 Objective 5: Implementation strategy and cost for viable solutions. .............................. 26 4.5 Objective 6: Draft Interim Report. .................................................................................. 32 5. Acquiring the Basic Information .............................................................................................. 32 5.1 Acquisition and Analysis of Field and Laboratory Data ................................................ 32 5.2 Steps to Be Taken After the Data Has Been Analyzed ................................................... 34 6. Immediate Use of Available Data: Ice Fall Dashboard ............................................................ 34 6.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 34 6.2 Objectives ....................................................................................................................... 35 6.3 Classification................................................................................................................... 36 6.4 Determination ................................................................................................................. 38 6.5 Persistence....................................................................................................................... 39 6.6 Implementation ............................................................................................................... 41 6.7 Results ............................................................................................................................