The utilization of geothermal energy for melting snow and ice on bridge decks has been shown to be effective. However, the existing geothermal heating systems work through hydronic loops embedded inside the bridge deck and therefore are only applicable to new bridges. A new external geothermal heating design for bridge de-icing has been explored in concept and tests in the laboratory, showing great implementation potential. This study presents the design and implementation procedure of a novel external geothermal heating system on a full-scale bridge deck for de-icing operations in field conditions for its first time. It tests and analyzes the system’s heating performance and the bridge deck’s thermal response under several winter events. The details and information pertaining to the design and construction of the hydronic loops, a ground loop heat exchanger (GLHE) monitoring system, are presented and can be pivotal for the designers of similar projects. The test results showed that the system was successful in de-icing the bridge deck and maintaining the bridge deck surface temperature above freezing in the event with a minimum ambient temperature of −6.2 °C. The de-icing system requires about 7–8 h of pre-heating to reach its maximum performance; however, less time is required during mild events. Moreover, this research investigated the performance of the system, and the experimental results showed an average system coefficient of performance (COP) of approximately 4.6 and a heating efficiency of about 55%.

事实证明，利用地热能在桥面板上融化冰雪是有效的。但是，现有的地热供暖系统通过嵌入桥面板内的水力回路来工作，因此仅适用于新桥。在实验室的概念和测试中已经探索了一种用于桥梁除冰的新型外部地热供暖设计，具有巨大的实施潜力。这项研究首次提出了一种新颖的在地桥上用于外部除冰作业的新型外部地热供暖系统的设计和实施程序。它可以测试和分析在一些冬季事件下系统的加热性能和桥面板的热响应。有关水力循环的设计和建造的详细信息，提出了一种地面回路热交换器（GLHE）监控系统，对于类似项目的设计人员而言，该监控系统至关重要。测试结果表明，在最低环境温度为-6.2°C的情况下，该系统成功地为桥面板除冰并保持桥面板表面温度高于冰点。除冰系统需要大约7-8小时的预热才能达到最佳性能。但是，在轻度事件中需要的时间更少。此外，这项研究对系统的性能进行了研究，实验结果表明，平均系统性能系数（COP）约为4.6，加热效率约为55％。测试结果表明，在最低环境温度为-6.2°C的情况下，该系统成功地为桥面板除冰并保持桥面板表面温度高于冰点。除冰系统需要大约7-8小时的预热才能达到最佳性能。但是，在轻度事件中需要的时间更少。此外，这项研究对系统的性能进行了研究，实验结果表明，平均系统性能系数（COP）约为4.6，加热效率约为55％。测试结果表明，在最低环境温度为-6.2°C的情况下，该系统成功地为桥面板除冰并保持桥面板表面温度高于冰点。除冰系统需要大约7-8小时的预热才能达到最佳性能。但是，在轻度事件中需要的时间更少。此外，这项研究对系统的性能进行了研究，实验结果表明，平均系统性能系数（COP）约为4.6，加热效率约为55％。