Nondestructive Evaluation of Concrete Bridge Decks with Automated Acoustic Scanning System and Ground Penetrating Radar

Authors

Hongbin Sun, University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Sepehr Pashoutani, University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Jinying Zhu, University of Nebraska - LincolnFollow

ORCID IDs

Hongbin Sun

Sepehr Pashoutani

Jinying Zhu

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

2018

Citation

Sensors 2018, 18, 1955

Comments

Copyright 2018 by the authors.

Open access

doi:10.3390/s18061955

Abstract

Delamanintions and reinforcement corrosion are two common problems in concrete bridge decks. No single nondestructive testing method (NDT) is able to provide comprehensive characterization of these defects. In this work, two NDT methods, acoustic scanning and Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR), were used to image a straight concrete bridge deck and a curved intersection ramp bridge. An acoustic scanning system has been developed for rapid delamination mapping. The system consists of metal-ball excitation sources, air-coupled sensors, and a GPS positioning system. The acoustic scanning results are presented as a two-dimensional image that is based on the energy map in the frequency range of 0.5–5 kHz. The GPR scanning results are expressed as the GPR signal attenuation map to characterize concrete deterioration and reinforcement corrosion. Signal processing algorithms for both methods are discussed. Delamination maps from the acoustic scanning are compared with deterioration maps from the GPR scanning on both bridges. The results demonstrate that combining the acoustic and GPR scanning results will provide a complementary and comprehensive evaluation of concrete bridge decks.