Thermal Characteristics of Road Surface Temperature in Winter by Thermal Mapping

Infra-red thermal mapping is helpful to detect the places on the road surface that are most apt to freeze in winter. To eliminate the influence of vehicle heat on the road surface temperature measurements, the infra-red thermometer was placed inside a heated insulated housing mounted approximately 25cm in front of the vehi-cle. This arrangement gives results that are potentially representative than those obtained by existing systems. Road surface temperature distribution information obtained by our vehicle-mounted infra-red thermometry can provide critical data that is normally unavail-able and should prove useful to designers of highway icing warning systems. It should be especially helpful in precisely delineating icing-susceptible zones near bridge and tunnel approaches as well as near the edge of road sections with sprinkler type snow melting systems. Finally, basic countermeasures are proposed to prevent motor vehicle accidents related to road icing.