" TRB's second Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP 2) Report S2-R06A-RR-1: Nondestructive Testing to Identify Concrete Bridge Deck Deterioration identifies nondestructive testing technologies for detecting and characterizing common forms of deterioration in concrete bridge decks.The report also documents the validation of promising technologies, and grades and ranks the technologies based on results of the validations.The main product of this project will be an electronic repository for practitioners, known as the NDToolbox, which will provide information regarding recommended technologies for the detection of a particular deterioration. " -- publisher's description.

Bridges are at the heart of transportation systems connecting the roads to and between the mainlands. Thus, bridges are an integral part of the economic growth of any country. They are subjected to dynamic loads of the vehicles and the environmental effects. These loads cause stress and strain cycles causing its deterioration by initiating microcracking. The deterioration is then accelerated due to the chloride attack which causes the corrosion of the steel reinforcement resulting in cracking and delamination of concrete and ultimately leads to failure. It is essential to analyze the bridge with its actual condition which is difficult with a visual inspection. This analysis can help in determining the degree of repairs needed and an approximate idea about its service life. The development of the Non-Destructive Test (NDT) methods helps assess the condition of the bridge without any kind of damage to the original structure. In the past few decades, the Non-Destructive Evaluation (NDE) with the help of Ground Penetration Radar (GPR) has gained popularity due to its ease in the evaluation of the larger areas such as bridge deck and parking lot in a shorter amount of time with sufficient training. The NDE using GPR for Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) has been still evolving with new improvements in its technology as well as the development of new methods for the analysis of its data. A positive step towards detecting the subsurface materials present in the cracks has been undertaken in this study. A methodology to detect the subsurface cracks/gaps in concrete using GPR has been developed here by preparing three concrete samples of dimensions 50 x 25 x 5 cm3, 50 x 25 x 10 cm3, and 50 x 25 x 20 cm3 in the laboratory. The detection of reinforcement of 6 mm, 10 mm, 18 mm, 20 mm diameter, as well as a 21.8 mm Fiber Reinforcement Polymer (FRP) bar, are studied along with the detection of the air gap, water gap, and gap with the salt solutions of thickness 3 mm, 4 mm, 4.8 mm, 5.8 mm and 8.8 mm under the depth of 5 cm, 10 cm, and 15 cm. The amplitude values of these parameters are studied, and a comparison is made to check the ability of GPR to detect this material in cracks and/or delamination with changes in depths. This will be helpful in analyzing the GPR data with more reliability. Along with this, a non-linear finite element model (FEM) of a bridge superstructure using a fiber element is developed. The FE model of the bridge deck is updated and analyzed using a GPR defect map. This procedure of model updating is less tedious than the previous method available in the literature and proves to be time-saving. This model updating procedure will prove to be helpful in estimating the capacity of the bridge and make a prediction for future deterioration with the help of NDE methods (here GPR).

Several evaluation techniques were employed to assess concrete bridge deck condition, including visual inspection, hammer sounding and chaining, dielectric measurements, ground-penetrating radar imaging, resistivity testing, half-cell potential testing, and chloride concentration testing. The condition assessment testing confirmed that chloride-induced corrosion of reinforcing steel is the primary mechanism of deck deterioration and that inadequate cover over the upper steel mat facilitated accelerated corrosion damage in many instances. The bridge deck condition analyses produced from the results of non-destructive testing were compared to the visual inspection ratings assigned to each deck by UDOT.

Several parameter estimation scenarios using a finite element model of the UCII-Grid were successfully completed using error function normalization, stacking and/or combing. The UCII-Grid stiffness parameters were updated to reflect the non-destructive test data. Only scenarios that used error function normalization and stacking were successful, in terms of physical meaning for the parameter estimates. The unsuccessful cases showed that no amount of numerical manipulation can make an ill-conditioned scenario produced meaningful results.

"This study investigates two bridge decks in the state of Missouri using both nondestructive and destructive testing methods. The Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) is responsible for the monitoring and maintenance of over 10,000 bridges. Currently monitoring of these bridges includes a comprehensive visual inspection. In this study, ground-coupled ground penetrating radar (GPR) is used to estimate deterioration, along with other traditional methods, including visual inspection, and core evaluation. Extracted core samples were carefully examined, and the volume of permeable pore space was determined for each core. After the initial investigation, the two bridges underwent rehabilitation using hydrodemolition as a method to remove loose or deteriorated concrete. Depths and locations of material removal were determined using light detection and ranging (lidar). Data sets were compared to determine the accuracy of GPR to predict deterioration for condition monitoring and rehabilitation planning of bridge decks. As shown by the lidar survey of the material removed during rehabilitation, the GPR top reinforcement reflection amplitude accurately predicted regions of deterioration within the bridge decks. In general, regions with lower reflection amplitudes, indicating more evidence of deterioration, corresponded to regions with greater depths of material removal during the rehabilitation. Also, the GPR top reinforcement reflection amplitude indicated deterioration in areas where visual deterioration was noticed from the top surface of the deck. The majority of cores with delaminations were extracted from sections where the GPR top reinforcement reflection amplitude indicated greater evidence of deterioration based on lower amplitude values."--Abstract, page iii.

The deck is among the most expensive components of a bridge over its lifetime because of the frequent and costly maintenance and rehabilitation required. Currently, the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) performs visual inspections of a bridge deck as the principal means of determining its condition, which enables the inspector to definitively document the surface condition while the unseen condition below the deck surface is left to the inspector's expert judgement. To compensate for this lack of data, INDOT supplements visual inspections with programmatic scheduling for major work actions, which is very effective for INDOT but costly. In this continuing era of funding shortfalls, INDOT commissioned this study to investigate nondestructive testing (NDT) methods to fill their data gap to inform its work action decision. The NDT methods have been shown to accurately locate corrosion and delamination and are a cost-effective alternative. A project level comparison between the NDT methods was performed to show which method, as well as which combination of methods, were the best choices from a cost perspective. A project level analysis of 30 bridge decks was performed, and those costs were compared to the costs of the current INDOT programmatic schedules. Finally, the analysis was expanded to the network level, which included the entire bridge inventory in Indiana. The results of this study indicate that implementing the NDT methods is cost-effective for INDOT at both the project and network levels.