Current R&D Activities of the FHWA in Nondestructive Evaluation for Bridges

Since the adoption of the National Bridge Inspection Standards, State Departments of Transportation have invested significant resources in the inspection and evaluation of highway bridges. Inspections have relied largely on visual inspection of bridge to assess the condition of bridges, and few nondestructive evaluation (NDE) methods have been widely adopted. Given the large numbers of deteriorating bridges, there is a need to develop new and better tools for the condition assessment of bridges. This paper presents some of the new technologies being developed by the FHWA for the NDE of highway bridges. The FHWA NDE Validation Center is described, and a brief overview of a recent study on the reliability of normal bridge inspection practices is provided. Several recent efforts to develop unique tools for the condition assessment and health monitoring of in-service bridges are described.