Nondestructive Evaluation of a New Concrete Bridge Deck Subject to Excessive Rainfall during Construction: Implications for Durability in a Cold Region

This study demonstrated the application of nondestructive evaluation techniques for quality assurance of a newly constructed bridge deck in northern Utah that was subjected to an unexpected rainstorm during concrete placement. Because excess water can lead to lower concrete durability, evaluating the ability of water and chloride ions to penetrate the concrete and quantifying the overall protection of the reinforcing steel were important objectives. Several deck properties were measured, including concrete cover depth, deck surface temperature, resistivity, vertical electrical impedance (VEI), and Schmidt rebound number. Statistical analyses performed on the collected data indicated that the section most affected by the rain exhibited a lower Schmidt rebound number but was not different from the other sections in terms of resistivity or VEI; therefore, the results of the testing suggest that the effect of the rain was limited to a shallow depth of concrete, which was corroborated by petrographic analysis performed on several cores removed from the bridge deck. The upper approximately 0.13 in. was then milled from the deck surface before a polyester polymer concrete overlay was applied to seal the deck.