1 Investigation of Bridge Decks Utilizing Ground Penetrating Radar

We have performed ground penetrating radar (GPR) surveys over the driving lane of eleven bridges and compared the deterioration analysis results with what ground truth was available. The bulk of the work was completed utilizing a new antenna designed for bridge deck evaluation, although we did compare the results on one bridge using this new antenna and older antennae. The good correlation we obtain with the ground truth shows that GPR can give percent deterioration estimates that are accurate. The determination of the type of deterioration (delamination, debonding) using GPR alone is quite difficult. Results of this work suggest that GPR may yield good estimates of chain drag hollow areas related to debonding, as well as possibly the areas showing up in half-cell potential data related to rebar corrosion. This study demonstrates GPR is effective by yielding deterioration estimates for key bridges in Missouri, and delineates interpretation methodologies appropriate for high-resolution GPR imaging