U.S. Department of Transportation
Federal Highway Administration
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Washington, DC 20590
202-366-4000
Federal Highway Administration Research and Technology
Coordinating, Developing, and Delivering Highway Transportation Innovations
| REPORT |
| This report is an archived publication and may contain dated technical, contact, and link information |
 |
| Publication Number: FHWA-HRT-21-023 Date: March 2021 |
Publication Number: FHWA-HRT-21-023 Date: March 2021 |
PDF Version (21.8 MB)
This report documents the results of an investigation to identify effective and promising nondestructive evaluation (NDE) techniques to detect and characterize deterioration in concrete bridge decks with overlays. The results of the study on which this report is based will provide bridge owners with a practical protocol and information to identify NDE technologies to assess the performance of different types of overlays.
Cheryl Allen Richter, Ph.D., P.E.
Director, Office of Infrastructure
Research and Development
Notice
This document is disseminated under the sponsorship of the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) in the interest of information exchange. The U.S. Government assumes no liability for the use of the information contained in this document.
The U.S. Government does not endorse products or manufacturers. Trademarks or manufacturers' names appear in this report only because they are considered essential to the objective of the document.
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Technical Report Documentation Page
| 1. Report No.
FHWA-HRT-21-023 |
2. Government Accession No. | 3. Recipient's Catalog No. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4. Title and Subtitle
Nondestructive Evaluation of Concrete Bridge Decks with Overlays |
5. Report Date
March 2021 |
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| 6. Performing Organization Code 1YX01 |
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| 7. Author(s)
Shibin Lin, Hoda Azari (HRDI-20; ORCID: 0000-0002-7340-0035), Dewei Meng, and Sadegh Shams |
8. Performing Organization Report No. | |||
| 9. Performing Organization Name and Address
Engineering & Software Consultants, Inc. |
10. Work Unit No. (TRAIS) | |||
| 11. Contract or Grant No.
DTHF61-D-14-00011 |
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| 12. Sponsoring Agency Name and Address
Office of Infrastructure Research and Development |
13. Type of Report and Period Covered
Final Report; October 2016–April 2019 |
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| 14. Sponsoring Agency Code
HRDI-20 |
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| 15. Supplementary Notes
The Contracting Officer's Representative was Hoda Azari (HRDI-20; ORCID: 0000-0002-7340-0035). |
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| 16. Abstract
Concrete bridge deck overlays have been used in the United States since 1960 to extend the service life of deteriorated concrete bridge decks and improve reliability. Concrete bridge decks with overlays suffer various types of deterioration, so it is necessary to identify and assess the effectiveness of different nondestructive evaluation (NDE) technologies in the laboratory under controlled conditions and in the field under actual conditions. This report provides an overview of seven types of widely used overlays: asphalt with a liquid membrane, asphalt with a fabric membrane, asphalt without a membrane, silica fume-modified concrete, latex-modified concrete (LMC), epoxy polymer concrete, and polyester polymer concrete. This report identifies and ranks available and promising NDE technologies to assess the performance of different types of overlays and concrete bridge decks. This report describes laboratory validation on overlays for nine commonly used NDE technologies. The nine NDE technologies are: sounding, ultrasonic surface waves (USW), impact echo (IE), ultrasonic tomography (UT), impulse response (IR), ground-penetrating radar (GPR), electrical resistivity (ER), half-cell potential (HCP), and infrared thermography (IRT). This report details the results of laboratory tests validating the NDE technologies for the seven different types of overlays. Field validation using the RABITTM bridge deck assessment tool and manual testing equipment was also performed. Results from the study on which this report is based indicated that GPR was the most effective method for detecting defects in underlying concrete specimens through both bonded and debonded overlays; however, GPR could not detect overlay debonding. |
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| 17. Key Words
Concrete bridge decks, overlays, nondestructive evaluation |
18. Distribution Statement
No restrictions. This document is available through the National Technical Information Service, Springfield, VA 22161. |
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| 19. Security Classification (of this report) Unclassified |
20. Security Classification (of this page) Unclassified |
21. No. of Pages
240 |
22. Price
N/A |
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| Form DOT F 1700.7 (8-72) | Reproduction of completed page authorized |
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