Heated Runways?
 

I'm sure there's a good argument why this isn't feasible, but I'd like to know the details.

Item 1: The recent DEN shutdown was a royal mess at the "all weather airport" and across the nation.

Item 2: Railroads heat track switches to keep lines open in all temperature conditions.

Item 3: A track switch occupies a tiny area compared to a runway.

Has anyone looked at heating runways when warranted? What would the cost be?

The main issue is your item 3. The amount of heat required to keep blowing snow from pilling up on the runways would be gigantic. There's also the issue of keeping the taxiways and gate areas clear as well.

IIRC, there have been a lot of tests conducted on heated runway solutions using pipes underneath the runway that are heated with water up to its boiling point. A Google search for "heating runway" or "heated runway" brings up some great websites that discuss this further.

Of course, with airports scrapping for every landing/take-off fee they can get, I'm sure the main reason why such wasn't implemented in the U.S. was the cost vs. the overall benefit that would result.

It was a highway, not a runway, but I think there was an experimental stretch of electrically-heated road built by Virginia Tech sometime in the 1990s as part of a project to test various traffic safety improvements. The heated highway, if I remember the news coverage correctly, wasn't a safety improvement because it turned out that while heating the surface melted the ice or snow it also created a really thick layer of fog.

The cost of this would be enormous. Don't forget that even if the runway was kept clear the aircraft need someplace to go after they land so that means taxiways, aprons and gate areas also need to be kept open. Another huge problem would be providing drainage for all the meltwater -melting it is fine but you still need to get rid of it.

Even if you figure out some way to drain the water and keep the rest of the
surface (taxi way.. parking etc) the amount of head required to keep the
runways clear and to maintain a warm temperature with the wind blowing is
a very expensive process. even if you solve the fog issue, drain issue and the
construction issues.. its remains very expensive.

unless you come up with a cheap fuel alternative :)
(or move the airport to a warm place)


So far, its cheaper to displace the snow instead of melting it.

I think there is a road up snowmass mountain that is heated. 25' of snow a year.

I'm beginning to think this isn't feasible........

Couldn't they just drain the water into the holding tanks used for drinking water on airplanes? Mmm, that would be tasty!! :D

Um, if airports don't have any way to drain water from runways and other areas, how come they don't shut down in the rain?

We had a heated driveway at our home in NJ when I was a boy (1959) never operated properly but was offered by the builder of the home ,so it's not a new idea.As far as the energy required,remember you only need to raise the temp above 32 and it does not usually snow when the temp is extremly low so it may not require the amount of energy you may believe it would

Also isnt the snow on a plane taking off an issue, even with deicing if the snow is coming down heavy enough it is going to build up on the plane and add weight and become a safety issue.

My point is that it's not just the runways that would need to be heated but also the drainage system.

A runway 200' x 10000' is equal to about 8 miles of two lane highway. You may only need to raise the temp by a few degrees but you're talking about thousands (millions?) of tons of pavement and a huge surface area. I sure wouldn't want to be the guy paying for the heating bill.

The biggest is the cost benefit ratio. Airports rarely get so over loaded that they shut down. This was the first time for DEN after being open for how many years how 10?

Drainage is not that much of a problem as on average a foot of snow contains an 1 inch of water. But then again there is alot of concrete.

The "fall" (i.e., water is kept moving 'downhill') in current systems keeps water moving and inhibits freezing; in addition, most current systems likely have a burial depth great enough that they won't freeze even at cold surface temperatures. It's a slightly different material than storm drainage, but do you think the entire waste sewer system in cities like Buffalo or Duluth is heated? Somehow people can still flush their toilets and have their tubs drain during the winter in these places (i.e. they don't freeze).

Actually, this was the third shutdown. I was not here for the first one, but I thought I heard it was more a planning misjudgement (the first real test since the airport opened?). But the 2nd shutdown was a storm even bigger than this one, 3-1/2 years ago.

Well, one argument is if it is necessary to create a truly "all-weather" airport? I'm not a pilot or aeronautical engineer, so maybe I am underestimating airplane technology. But is there such a thing as all-weather airplanes (at least for public commercial use)?

I mean, is there any point in keeping an airport open if the planes shouldn't be taking off anyway?

I think acpilot answered this well.... in the warm weather, the drains and channels [used for the rain to drain] are also frozen and clogged with snow. Unless you melt everything, draining the water would be a major issue.
Heating every duct close to the surface is not an easy task either.

Not to mention the additional construction cost.

Once water gets a few feet below the surface.. its fine, but the challenge is to
keep the drains open at the surface. To ensure that for such a large area,
you need to make sure the runways and the surrounding areas are also kept
warm. I dont see that to be an easy or cheap task.

Also the construction costs would be significantly high.. interest from the
money saved by not doing it.. might even pay for the cleaning costs for
years [my guess]

That's the very plan being discussed--heating the runways and surrounding areas warm enough to melt snow! I'm not advocating the plan, I never said it would be cheap or easy. I'm just pointing out that if the runways and surrounding areas are indeed kept warm enough to melt snow, there will not be an issue of finding a place for the water to go.

OK, if you go back and read what the OP asked you will see that the question was about heating the runway. I pointed out that it's not just the runway that would need to be heated but also enough of the drainage system to ensure that the melted water has someplace to go. Have you ever seen the havoc that an abnormally warm spring day causes with ice, snow and drainage? Standing water on the runway will have the aircraft diverting even if the airport is open.

There are heated pavements/sidewalks in Tromsø in Northern Norway (mostly in the centre, but also at the university campus). They seem to work quite well.

Modern airliners are extremely capable but there is a limit on every specific weather phenomena possible. For example the minimum temperature for starting the engines (on the aircraft I fly) is -40 C. I rarely see -40C but it's still a weather limitation on the aircraft. You could go down a list of every possible atmospheric condition and find a point at which it exceeds the capabilities of a modern airliner. It's certainly possible to design and build aircraft that could start engines below -40C but it's just not cost effective to spend the extra money expanding the operating envelop for a relatively infrequent condition.