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.