Nondestructive Testing of Dallas County Bridge in Missouri, USA

Abstract

Fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) composites are getting a wide range of application areas in bridge rehabilitations because these materials are less affected by corrosive environmental conditions, known to provide longer life and require less maintenance. However, there are still some concerns about their long-term performance because currently limited data exists. Moreover, the quality control and quality assessment of these new rehabilitation systems still need to be further improved and standardized. A recent rehabilitation application by using carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) and steel reinforced polymer (SRP) laminates took place in a bridge located in Dallas County, Missouri, by the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) and the Center for Infrastructure Engineering Studies (CIES) at the University of Missouri-Rolla. An investigation has been carried out in this bridge to provide installation criteria for FRP strengthening of civil structures. This investigation covers measurement of surface preparations, evaluation of bond properties by pullout tests, detection of fiber alignment, and detection of delaminations formed between concrete substrate and carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) by non-destructive testing equipments. Several nondestructive testing systems were performed such as impulse-echo, ultrasonic, and microwave to detect and image the delaminations. This paper explains the concerns about bridge rehabilitation systems and how the bridge was prepared before and after strengthening with CFRP for the nondestructive testing purposes. This bridge will be under investigation for five successive years.

Meeting Name

16th WCNDT 2004 - World Conference on NDT (2003: Aug. 30-Sep. 3, Montreal, Canada)

Department(s)

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering

Sponsor(s)

Missouri. Department of Transportation
University of Missouri--Rolla. University Transportation Center Program

Keywords and Phrases

Bridge Rehabilitations; Civil Structures; Concrete Substrate; Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP); Long-Term Performance

Document Type

Article - Conference proceedings

Document Version

Citation

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 2004 NDT (non destructive testing) c/o Bongiovanni Research & Technology, Inc., All rights reserved.

Publication Date

01 Sep 2004

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