1604
2, APRIL 2005
A Dynamic Programming Methodology to Develop
De-Icing Strategies During Ice Storms by Channeling
Load Currents in Transmission Networks
Maurice Huneault, Christian Langheit, Robert St.-Arnaud, Jimmy Benny, Jacques Audet, and Jean-Claude Richard
Abstract—The ice storm of 1998 in northeastern North America
caused much damage to the electrical installations of Trans-
Énergie, the transmission provider in Québec. Consequently, staff
there and at Hydro-Québec’s research centre IREQ have deployed
substantial efforts to mitigate the effects of future ice storms. This
paper describes one of many projects dedicated to that goal. A
computer program has been developed to simulate the ice buildup
(also called accretion) on wires of electrical transmission lines and
the melting of this ice using the heat generated by the currents
flowing in the wires, under evolving network and weather condi-
tions. Using these simulation tools, scenarios presenting different
network configurations can be tested and the best sequence of
scenarios, called a de-icing strategy, can be applied to reduce the
ice buildup over the network. The methodology proposed here to
determine de-icing strategies, based on dynamic programming,
constitutes an optimal control to minimize ice buildup on the
network over the set of scenarios and over the time horizon
spanning the anticipated duration of the ice storm. A prototype
of this computation has been tested using network data from the
TranÉnergie network and weather data from the 1998 ice storm.
Once completed, the program will serve as an aide to operators
during ice storms and as a training tool to better prepare for such
eventualities.
Index Terms—Power transmission lines, power transmission
meterological factors, thermal variables control, transmission line
glaze ice accretion and de-icing.
I. INTRODUCTION
I N JANUARY 1998, a prolonged ice storm swept through
an area of eastern Canada and the United States, from the
Saint Lawrence valley eastward to the Atlantic coast. Under
those weather conditions, super-cooled rain droplets froze upon
contact to all objects they met. The resulting ice buildup caused
widespread destruction to both the natural environment and
man-made structures, and in particular to the exposed electrical
transmission and distribution networks.
In the province of Québec, the electrical network feeding the
city of Montreal and an area just to its east were severely dam-
aged, affecting over 3 million people with some interruptions in
Manuscript received July 28, 2003; revised January 6, 2004. Paper no.
TPWRD-00398-2003.
M. Huneault, C. Langheit, and R. St.-Arnaud are with the Hydro
Québec Research Institute, IREQ, Varennes, QC J3X 1S1, Canada (e-mail:
huneault@ireq.ca; langheit.christian@ireq.ca; star@ireq.ca).
J. Benny, J. Audet, and J.-C. Richard are with TransEnergie, Mon-
treal, QC H5B 1H7, Canada (e-mail: benny.jimmy@hydro.qc.ca; audet.
jacques.3@hydro.qc.ca; richard.jean-claude@hydro.qc.ca).
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TPWRD.2004.838463
0885-8977/$20.00 © 2005 IEEE
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER DELIVERY, VOL. 20, NO.
service lasting up to 5 weeks. Following the storm and the re-
construction of the damaged portions of their networks, many of
the affected utilities set forth on a vast program to mitigate the
effects of subsequent ice storms. In particular, Hydro-Québec,
the provincial electrical utility in Québec, and TransÉnergie, the
transmission provider, (subsequently referred to as TE) have in-
vested heavily in research on this subject over the last five years.
Many of the ideas put forth by the research community at large
over this period can be found in the recent Canadian Electrical
Association reports on de-icing [1]. In addition to some new
techniques, all previously existing techniques [2]–[4] have been
revisited in the latest study. Essentially, the proposed mitigation
techniques can be split into two broad categories: reinforcing
the mechanical structures most likely to be stressed during fu-
ture ice storms, and de-icing the wires before the weight of the
accreted ice becomes too burdensome. Entries in the latter cat-
egory can also be split into two subcategories: mechanical ice
shedding (impulse, rolling, etc.) or electrical de-icing (dc cur-
rents, fault or load ac currents, high frequency currents, etc.).
This paper reports on efforts to develop strategies to de-ice the
phase wires of high voltage lines in TEs subtransmission net-
work (120–315 kV) by concentrating load currents on a reduced
set of lines, thereby increasing the heat generation in the en-
ergized lines. The advantages of de-icing by load current are
that the entire load remains connected to the reduced network,
and that no new equipment is needed in the process. Only the
timely switching of lines need be considered. Disadvantages are
that the network can become vulnerable to contingencies when
operated in a reduced configuration, and that in some parts of
the network the load current is still insufficient to de-ice the
wires. Nonetheless, in certain portions of the network, load cur-
rent de-icing is clearly beneficial. Before the end of 1998, TE
had identified those portions of its network and had provided a
protocol to operators listing the required-time/imposed-current
curves to de-ice the major subtransmission lines. At the request
of the operations engineers at TE, this process has been incor-
porated in an interactive computer program.
The electrical de-icing calculations provide values of the cur-
rent required to melt a given buildup of ice in a given time in-
terval or the time required to melt the ice buildup for a given
current. The calculations used at TE are based on those long
adopted by Manitoba-Hydro [5], which find their roots in papers
from the early 1930s [6], [7]. These were initially proposed for
use with short-circuit currents, but are applicable to any source
of current. Since the 1950s, the literature on electrical de-icing
HUNEAULT et al.: DYNAMIC PROGRAMMING METHODOLOGY TO DEVELOP DE-ICING STRATEGIES
has been relatively sparse. A set of papers in the transactions
of AIEE from that period [8]–[13] reported on the ravages of
past ice storms in the American Northeast and mid-Atlantic re-
gions, going as far back as 1916, and on mitigation techniques
adopted subsequently by the incumbent utilities. The techniques
reported involved de-icing mostly by direct or short circuit cur-
rents, which requires that the subnetwork being de-iced and its
load be disconnected from the rest of the network. Only the
paper of Smith & Wilder [12] considered de-icing by load cur-
rent. Results of de-icing calculations were compiled in tables
and graphs for individual lines, but no global de-icing method-
ology emerged. It seems that sequences of de-icing maneuvers
were determined by experienced operations personnel on a case
by case basis, using their computational tools as aides for deci-
sion-making.
A different approach to the de-icing problem is that of
anti-icing. Given the impending weather conditions, anti-icing
models [14] compute the necessary current to avoid ice buildup
on a bare wire. These can be considered an extension of the
ampacity calculations found in [15]. Anti-icing currents are
not necessarily available on all lines, and could hardly be
imposed simultaneously as part of a de-icing strategy. However,
knowledge of these current levels is useful in assessing the
appropriateness of a de-icing strategy or for imposing de-icing
on a particular line.
The opposite phenomenon, ice accretion on wires, has been
modeled over the last 25 years mostly by heat transfer special-
ists. Papers can be split into 3 basic categories: rime ice ac-
cretion on structures shrouded in clouds [16]–[18], glaze ice
accretion due to freezing rain [19]–[21] and wet snow accre-
tion [22]. Given the impending weather conditions, ice accre-
tion models predict the amount of precipitation that will accrete
on the wire; for now, we are concerned only with glaze ice for-
mation. Although these papers provide great insight into icing
mechanisms, many of the proposed computational methods are
quite involved since they try to predict microscopic growth.
Consequently they could not be used in the general de-icing
tool we wish to develop, which repeats thousands of accretion
computations in a single run. Two macroscopic models found
to be very useful are those of Makkonen [17] and Jones [21]. In
particular, the Makkonen model predicts the progression of ice
buildup over time. None of these papers considers simultane-
ously the ice buildup on the outer surface of the ice sleeve and
ice melting on the inner surface in contact with the heating wire.
De-icing models described above have no predictive capa-
bility, in that they answer questions one at a time, each in a single
time period. In the hours leading up to an ice storm, operations
planners need to predict the progression of ice accretions over
the entire network over a time horizon spanning the anticipated
duration of the ice storm. To do so, one must simulate both the
ice buildup on lines having insufficient projected current and
the ice melt on lines having sufficiently high projected current,
based on electrical load and weather forecasts. This is not a
static calculation, since over time most lines could go through
both phases. Only with the help of a complete time-dependent
simulation can a general picture of the projected damage be
drawn. More importantly, only then can coordinated corrective
1605
measures be envisaged to dispatch the resource at our disposal,
the load currents, in an enlightened manner. This paper pro-
poses a calculation with such a capability. Its combined accre-
tion/de-icing calculation module serves as a simulation engine
in a larger procedure, based on dynamic programming princi-
ples, to coordinate the use of the load currents over time and
space so as to minimize the overall impact of the ice storm.
The methodology has been implemented and tested on small
data sets, using real data from the TE network and weather data
from the 1998 ice storm. We have observed that the computa-
tional effort involved is high, although not excessively so. Com-
paring as many as six scenarios at a time, accretions on all lines
were computed for each pair of {preceding scenario, scenario},
although some shortcuts were exploited, over a time horizon of
as much as 3 days with a resolution of 1 h. Solution times for
the largest case are below one minute on an 800-MHz PC. This
paper provides the details of the newly proposed method along
with some early results based on those small data sets. In suc-
cessful de-icing strategies, as could be expected, results exhibit
a rotation of scenarios, affecting in turn the different portions of
the network.
II. DE-ICING PRACTICES DURING THE ICE STORM OF 1998
Operations planners from the provincial control center and
from the Saint Jérome regional center, north of Montreal, have
served as technical advisers for this project. They provided
much insight into the de-icing procedures applied during the
1998 ice storm. Despite the infrequent occurrence of ice storms
and the unprecedented magnitude of the 1998 storm, the Saint
Jérome center was quite successful in reducing ice buildups
over their subnetwork. They did not have to fight a loosing
battle to begin with, since less freezing rain fell there than in the
critical region east of Montreal. However, the decisions taken
by experienced operations planners certainly saved the network
from serious damage. Equipped with an intimate knowledge
of the electrical behavior of their network, they suggested
reasonable scenarios as the storm progressed, routing load
currents while respecting ampacity limits, evaluating the risks
of contingencies, exploiting local generation, and taking into
account the specifics of their network.
Before another major ice storm hits, chances are that the expe-
rience gained then and there will be lost. That was a strong moti-
vation in trying to encapsulate some of the methodology and the
lessons learned in a computer program. The reproducible parts
of the process have been coded in the program described here:
the use of physical models, the simulation of ice accretion over
time and the consideration of identified constraints. Because it
requires so much number crunching, the optimization module
goes beyond the capability of the human operator, but intuitively
it compares solutions in a manner similar to that used by the op-
erator on a more limited scale. The human operator still has an
edge when it comes to “picking the right solution out of a hat”
thanks to knowledge gained through experience, and in evalu-
ating risks associated with the proposed actions. Those aspects
cannot be programmed without great diligence, and for now we
will not try to include them in the program.
1606
Fig. 1. General structure of a procedure to determine an optimal de-icing
strategy.
III. A COMBINED ICING AND DE-ICING MODEL
The TE and Manitoba Hydro de-icing models assume
that all the precipitation impinging the conductor is captured
and freezes. They ignore two important phenomena. In mild
temperatures, some of the precipitation never freezes and
simply drips off the iced wire. Also, the impinging droplets
contribute/extract heat energy to/from the iced conductor. Two
new de-icing models were developed to take those phenomena
into account. The first, denoted IREQ_1, can be seen as an
intermediate step toward a more complete but more complex
model IREQ_2. Model IREQ_1 has been tested at length and
provides good results under typical ice storm conditions, but
overestimates the melt energy in colder conditions. Model
IREQ_2 corrects that problem; it has been formulated but has
yet to be tested. The details of the icing/de-icing models are
presented in a companion paper [23].
IV. DESCRIPTION OF THE DYNAMIC PROGRAMMING
METHODOLOGY TO DEVELOP DE-ICING STRATEGIES
In the monitored portion of the network, where icing can
occur, several de-icing scenarios were provided by operations
specialists. Typically a scenario describes the topology of a sub-
network in which some lines are removed and others are over-
loaded to melt ice. In our study, approximately 130 scenarios
were provided in the TE protocol, although so far we have al-
ways worked with smaller subsets of scenarios. Typical sce-
narios can involve 10 to 40 line sections. In each scenario, a
network configuration favors de-icing in a particular portion of
the network. The following dynamic programming procedure
determines the best sequence of scenarios and the duration of
the application of each scenario so as to minimize the maximum
accretion over all monitored lines over the chosen time horizon.
The general structure of the computation is illustrated in Fig. 1.
The computational engines in the left-hand-side block are fed
with forecasts of the network load and of the weather conditions.
These are the independent variables of the problem. Anticipated
line currents for the many scenarios are computed beforehand
in the Load Flow block. The thermal block computes the antic-
ipated ice accretion on the wires. The thermal block communi-
cates with the optimization in the larger right-hand-side block.
The two axes of the rectangular grid of the optimization block
are scenarios (y) and time (x). Every node in the grid retains the
“best” ice accretions, as defined below, for the given scenario
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER DELIVERY, VOL. 20, NO. 2, APRIL 2005
Fig. 2. Ice thickness versus time.
and time period. Since the final accretions that build up during
one period depend on the choice of the previous scenario, accre-
tions for a scenario are computed with all the feasible previous
scenarios. In the figure, the thin lines between successive sce-
narios illustrate this situation. The previous scenario providing
the lowest maximum accretion over all monitored lines is de-
clared the “best.” Considering their time-related nature, the ac-
cretions are the state variables of the problem. Accretion data for
all lines resulting from the best previous scenario are retained at
the node, along with the link to the best previous scenario. For
example in Fig. 1 for scenario at time , ice accre-
tions computed with previous scenario at were de-
clared the best. It is not yet known if node is on
the optimal path, but if in the end it is found to be optimal, then
by dynamic programming principles the node
would also be optimal. The computation proceeds until the final
time period, at which time the best final scenario is determined.
From that scenario and the knowledge of the sequence of best
preceding scenarios, an optimal de-icing strategy can be estab-
lished by working backward through the grid. In the figure the
thick dark line illustrates the optimal strategy. This computation
can be updated with actual accretion data obtained from obser-
vations taken in the field.
For the most part, the scenarios are built around radial sec-
tions of the network, so that modifications in that section have
little impact on the currents in the remainder of the network.
This assumption allows us to treat the scenarios independently
from the point of view of the load flow. A base network is built
up from the union of all the line sections contained in the con-
current scenarios. A base case load flow is performed on the
base network to determine basic line currents. This is referred
to as the basic scenario. When comparing the maximum accre-
tion resulting from the application of a scenario, accretions on
all lines of the base network are computed. At the beginning of
each time step, accretions are computed for the basic scenario
with initial accretions supplied by the basic scenario at the pre-
vious time step. In this step all line segments are considered.
The individual scenarios contain small subsets of lines; hence
not all line accretions are computed. Those lines missing from
the scenario or the preceding scenario are subjected to the same
conditions as the base case, and their accretions can be copied
directly from the base case. This shortcut substantially reduced
the computational burden.
For a given scenario and a given preceding scenario, accre-
tions are computed on all monitored lines. A metric is attributed
to this pair as a measure of its de-icing efficiency. Presently the
HUNEAULT et al.: DYNAMIC PROGRAMMING METHODOLOGY TO DEVELOP DE-ICING STRATEGIES 1607

greater value in the pair {highest accretion value on the moni- Backward Pass to Determine the Optimal De-Icing Strategy
tored lines, metric from the previous scenario} is retained as a
metric for that pair, although in future a metric related to the Initialize lowest metric to a large number
line loading limit will be implemented. By comparing to the For
metric of the previous scenario, we are sure to minimize the Retain as new lowest metric the smaller of the present
highest accretion along the optimal trajectory; without it, we lowest metric and the metric of the considered scenario at
would only optimize the accretions at the final time period but the final time period nTime.
allow large intermediate accretions. For a given scenario fed ini- EndFor Scenario
tial accretions by all previous scenarios, the previous scenario
providing the lowest metric is declared the best previous sce- The scenario with the lowest metric is the OptimalScenario
nario. The accretions computed using that pair are retained to at time nTime. That metric is the OptimalMetric at time nTime.
represent the scenario when it, in turn, will provide initial accre-
tions for the next time step. Considering the huge amount of data
For :1 by increments of 1
involved, only a sliding window of data for the current time and
OptimalScenario(Time)=Best Previous Scenario (Optimal
the previous time steps are kept in memory. The lowest metric
Scenario )
is essentially the value of the objective functional of the opti-
OptimalMetric(Time)=metric(OptimalScenario(Time))
mization after the given time step. A table retaining the lowest
EndFor Time
metrics and the best previous scenarios is filled for each scenario
at each time step. Once the table has been filled up to the final
time step, a backward search is performed to find the optimal By now the optimal de-icing strategy has been established.
de-icing strategy, and then the accretions of the optimal strategy,
previously discarded for lack of memory space, are recomputed. Final Forward Pass to Compute Accretions of the Optimal
Algorithmically, the process is summarized as follows. Strategy

For
Forward Pass to Compare Solutions Scenario=OptimalScenario(Time)
For
For Compute accretions for all line segments
If EndFor Lines
Get initial accretions from observations or assumptions EndFor Time
EndIf
Establish time of day for solar heating model
The human operator might wish to reserve certain time pe-
Move sliding data window
riods for specific de-icing scenarios. That can easily be accom-
Initialize metric to a large number
modated in the algorithm by limiting the number of active sce-
For
narios during those time periods.
Initialize largest accretion to a negative small number
For
If (either Scenario or PreviousScenario different from
V. RESULTS
Basic Scenario) We illustrate results from the calculations of the icing/de-
Determine line segments for which to compute new icing module taken alone and from the optimal de-icing strategy
accretions module. Input data for an icing/de-icing calculation are given in
Endif Table I. These include simulated weather conditions and line
For currents over a 40-h period, conductor data, and the initial ice
Compute or retrieve accretions for all line segments accretion on the wire. Standard equations for physical param-
Retain largest accretion/corresponding line segment eters [24] such as thermal conductivities, viscosities, densities,
EndFor Lines etc. were written into the program, but will not be repeated here.
Set the candidate equal to the greater of the largest Figs. 2 to 5 show some of the main results of the computa-
accretion and the metric of the previous scenario tion using the IREQ_1 model. In Fig. 2, the thickness of the
ice sleeve is seen to increase until hour 14, at which time it is
If (the candidate is smaller than the metric) shed. Ice accretes once more until time 31, is shed once again
Retain the candidate as new metric and then accretes more slowly. Fig. 3 shows the fractions versus
Also retain the index of the previous scenario time of the impinging precipitation that freezes on the wire, that
EndIf drips off and that evaporates. Fig. 4 shows the ice outer surface
EndFor Previous Scenario temperature, and illustrates that ice shedding does not neces-
EndFor Scenario sarily coincide with a surface temperature reaching the fusion
Place the metric and the Best Previous Scenario in a table temperature. Around however, all indicators converge:
for this scenario and time the outer surface reaches the fusion temperature, a large portion
EndFor Time of the precipitation drips off the iced conductor, and the ice is
1608
TABLE I
INPUT DATA FOR AN ICING/DE-ICING CALCULATION
Fig. 3. Fractions of impinging precipitation that freeze, evaporate, and drip.
Fig. 4. Ice outer surface temperature.
shed. Fig. 5 compares the heat dissipations attributable to con-
vection (Qc), evaporation (Qe), radiation (Qs) and the cooling
of impinging droplets (Qw). From this one can clearly discern
which modes of heat transfer are the most important.
Input data for the calculation of an optimal de-icing strategy
over time involve essentially the same variables as above, but
the data used is that collected during the real storm. The results
of four cases studies are presented below, for which de-icing
strategies are illustrated in Figs. 6 to 9. The grids in these fig-
ures place pre-determined scenarios on the Y axis versus time
on the X axis. The dark boxes in the grid represent the applica-
tion of Scenario Y at time X in the de-icing schedule. At time
periods with no dark box, the basic scenario is optimum. The
chronological time is displayed on the figures. Freezing rain
commences at 7 pm on day 1. In the first three case studies,
four scenarios are pitted against each other; in a fourth case six
scenarios are considered together. The maximum number of line
segments in the scenarios for these cases reach 10, 10, 20 and
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER DELIVERY, VOL. 20, NO. 2, APRIL 2005
Fig. 5. Evolution of dissipation fluxes.
Fig. 6. Optimal de-icing strategy for Case 1.
Fig. 7. Optimal de-icing strategy for Case 2.
Fig. 8. Optimal de-icing strategy for Case 3.
45 respectively. In Fig. 6, the strategy alternates between sce-
nario 3008 at time 19–20, scenario 3007 at time 20–21,etc. The
two scenarios L3007–L3008 basically describe the same portion
of a network but in different switching states, as do scenarios
L3062–L3063 for an adjacent portion. The four scenarios are
regrouped in one study because the equipment therein are elec-
trically connected. Since they implicate the same resources, the
scenarios within a group are mutually exclusive. In Fig. 8, the
alternation isn’t so clear-cut after the first 4-h cycle. Almost ev-
erywhere in the figures, the scenarios are applied for 1 h at a
time, but longer application periods could have been computed;
one such application occurs for 2 h in Fig. 8. With no de-icing
strategy applied to the basic network, the highest accretions over
HUNEAULT et al.: DYNAMIC PROGRAMMING METHODOLOGY TO DEVELOP DE-ICING STRATEGIES
Fig. 9. Optimal de-icing strategy for Case 4.
the line segments in the four case studies reached 10, 10, 10
and 13 mm, respectively, over a 24-h period. In Figs. 6 to 9,
the numbers in column ACCR show the maximum accretion
( 10) over the line segments affected by each scenario when ap-
plying the optimal de-icing strategy. As its objective function,
the de-icing strategy minimized the highest accretion over all
line segments. For example, in Fig. 6, the highest accretion is
. Compared to the base case
highest accretions mentioned above, the highest accretions are
significantly reduced in the first two cases (3 and 0.1 mm), and
are somewhat reduced in the latter two (8 and 7 mm). Diagonal
lines through the boxes show the progression of the maximum
accretion on the line segments considered in the corresponding
scenarios. For example, in Fig. 6, the highest accretion in sce-
nario L3063 increases from zero to its maximum between 20:00
h and 22:00 h, drops back to zero when ice is shed, stays zero
until 00:00 h, increases again to its maximum over two hours,
etc. The numbers in the boxes give, as additional information,
the time in minutes required to de-ice the current accretion with
the available line currents.
De-icing in Cases 1 and 2 were clearly successes. The cur-
rents provided were sufficient to keep all lines de-iced just by
alternating the scenarios. Cases 3 and 4 represent more problem-
atic situations. The precipitation rate was at its highest over the
last portion of the simulated period, at 1.7 mm/h. The available
currents in the chosen scenarios sufficed until around midnight
for Case 3 and about 2 am for Case 4, after which ice buildup
could no longer be held in check. For example, to de-ice the 7
mm of ice buildup in scenario 1233 of Case 4 with the early
morning currents, a time of up to 300 min would be required.
The program detected that unfortunate state of affairs but cannot
provide a better solution than the basic solution. This tells the
operations planners that supplementary de-icing scenarios must
be considered.
VI. TECHNICAL FUNCTIONS TO BE ADDED TO
THE PROGRAM IN THE SHORT TERM
Three important technical issues will be addressed shortly.
First, analysis of the 130 scenarios provided in the TE protocol
will allow us to regroup them into classes. Within a class, the
scenarios are mutually exclusive, so that when one scenario is
applied the others cannot be. Scenarios in different classes will
be run in parallel on the network, with no danger of interference.
The lines between classes will be drawn based on load flow anal-
ysis, such that proposed switching actions in one class will have
1609
practically no effect on line currents of another class. This split-
ting of the problem into small subproblems will greatly reduce
the computational effort required to study the whole network.
Second, a new module will simulate the probability of loss of
distribution loads as a function of the accumulated precipitation.
The effect of this will be to concentrate early de-icing efforts on
lines where the partial loss of load is more likely. Third, spe-
cific network-related constraints will be enforced within the op-
timization process. For example, the asymmetric ice unloading
of double-line circuits must be avoided, so that towers do not tilt
to one side. To enforce this type of constraint, priority must be
given to reduce ice buildup on these lines. Lines in close prox-
imity to each other, for example a high voltage line crossing
above a lower voltage line, would also be given special con-
sideration. Also considered is the idea that de-icing scenarios
lasting more than a certain maximum time tolerance should not
be considered, since in reality the de-icing would probably not
be effective. The specifics of the actions to be taken to avoid
problems in these cases remain to be worked out.
VII. CONCLUSION
This paper has presented a novel methodology to develop
de-icing strategies when faced with an impending ice storm. It is
based on the practice of load current de-icing, in which currents
ultimately reaching the loads are channeled through a reduced
portion of the network. The energized lines carry unusually high
currents with which they can melt the ice buildup. The method-
ology adopts practices already in use by operations planners in
the province of Québec, but adds to that a systematic procedure
to compare sequences of de-icing scenarios. The final result is a
sequence of network configurations, or scenarios, over time that
minimize the greatest ice buildup over the monitored portion of
the network. Two novel procedures are presented, the de-icing
methodology per se and an icing/de-icing model which serves as
a computational engine in the former. Sample results from both
procedures are presented, not so much to “give the answer,” but
more to show the potential of these tools.
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