Title:
FRP Retrofitting and Non-Destructive Evaluation for Corrosion-Deteriorated Bridges in West Virginia
Author(s):
Wael Zatar, Hai Nguyen, and Hien Nghiem
Publication:
Symposium Paper
Volume:
346
Issue:
Appears on pages(s):
11-30
Keywords:
concrete bridges; concrete imaging; deterioration; FRP composites; non-destructive testing and evaluation; structural rehabilitation; ultrasonic pulse-echo
DOI:
10.14359/51730490
Date:
1/1/2021
Abstract:
Many aging concrete bridges across the United States have exhibited severe deteriorations and in urgent
need of rehabilitation, retrofitting or replacement. The deterioration is caused by a combination of factors including
corrosion of reinforcing steel, freeze-thaw damage and chloride/water ingress. Fiber-Reinforced Polymer (FRP)
composite fibers, laminates, reinforcing bars and prestressed tendons have been successfully employed in civil
infrastructure applications in the past three decades. The State of West Virginia has one of the highest percentages of
structurally deficient bridges in the United States and this study covers a few case studies of the use of FRP composites
for rehabilitating the State’s deficient bridges. Non-destructive ultrasonic pulse-echo testing is employed to map
reinforcing rebars and detect delaminations of reinforced concrete slabs. A software, that employs the modified
synthetic aperture focusing technique (SAFT) image reconstruction algorithm and signal processing, is developed to
effectively visualize the reinforcing rebars and delaminations.