Thermographic measurement and numerical weather forecast along a highway road surface

Abstract

Effective winter maintenance of motorways is highly dependent on local topography and weather and can be a significant economic factor in overall maintenance costs. In the present paper, a temperature profile of a highway road surface is obtained through infrared thermography measurements and then compared to numerical weather forecasts using the COAMPS (Coupled Ocean/Atmosphere Mesoscale Prediction System) mesoscale weather prediction model. The highway under examination is a 26 km portion of the Egnatia motorway in northern Greece, which includes a number of twin-bore tunnels and cantilever bridges. Points of significant temperature variation are found at tunnel exits but the trend in the temperature profile is similar over different days of observations. Comparison of mesoscale numerical forecasts with measured values of air and road surface temperature shows encouraging agreement under typical clear winter night conditions with moderate wind. This suggests that current weather prediction modelling capabilities may be acceptable as a useful first approximation but also shows the gap that must be filled for accurate prediction of local road surface conditions. Copyright © 2010 Royal Meteorological Society.