Air-Coupled GPR and HD Imaging for High-Speed Bridge Deck Evaluation

The number of asphalt overlay applications in Nebraska is increasing. The asphalt overlay hinders visual inspection and many nondestructive evaluation (NDE) methods. Ground Penetrating RADAR (GPR) is the only currently proven NDE method that can be used to evaluate a concrete bridge deck with asphalt overlays (ASTM 2015). GPR can penetrate through the asphalt layer and the amplitudes of GPR reflection signals from reinforcing bars are used to evaluate the deck condition. In previous NDOT projects M065, M074, and FY21(012) (Pashoutani et al., 2019, 2020, 2021), the PI’s team developed a complete procedure of ground-coupled GPR data analysis for bridge deck evaluation, which has been used to evaluate bridge decks with various types of overlays (bare, concrete overlay, and asphalt overlay). Data fusion procedures were used to combine results from multiple NDE datasets collected from the same bridges, including GPR, half-cell potential (HCP), vertical impedance (VEI), and high-definition image (HDI). The fused results show improved resolution and accuracy and are used to determine the threshold values for GPR data analysis. The ground-coupled GPR system was used in all the previous research projects, but the need of traffic control significantly limits its application. Air-coupled GPR system that operates at the traffic speed has been widely used for pavement evaluation. However, there is very limited study on air-coupled GPR data analysis for bridge deck evaluation, especially on asphalt overlays. Because the data analysis procedures are different for ground- and air- coupled GPR systems, the threshold values developed for ground-coupled GPR data on bare concrete cannot be simply applied to air-coupled GPR data. In this research project, air-coupled GPR and vehicle-mounted HD imaging system will be investigated for high-speed evaluation of bridge decks with asphalt overlays. The research team will first collect data from the deck specimens in the lab and the Nebraska Outdoor Bridge Lab (NOBL) sites and develop a preliminary data analysis procedure. Then the team will work with NDOT to identify bridges that are scheduled for repair and collect data at different repair stages to validate and improve the data analysis algorithms.

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Active
• Funding: $166,897.00
• Sponsor Organizations:

  Nebraska Department of Transportation

  1500 Nebraska 2
  Lincoln, NE  United States  68502
• Project Managers:

  Halsey, Lieska

• Principal Investigators:

  Zhu, Jinying

  Sim, Chungwook

  Jin, Congrui

  Won, Kwanghee

• Start Date: 20220701
• Expected Completion Date: 20241231
• Actual Completion Date: 0

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Asphalt; Bituminous overlays; Bridges
• Identifier Terms: Nebraska Department of Transportation
• Subject Areas: Bridges and other structures; Data and Information Technology; Pavements;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01849005
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Nebraska Department of Transportation
• Files: RIP, STATEDOT
• Created Date: Jun 21 2022 1:28PM