Performance of Concrete Highway Bridge Decks using Nationwide Condition Data [techbrief]

Federal Highway Administration2018PDFBriefSchumacher, ThomasGhonima, OmarFleischhacker, AdamUnnikrishnan, AvinashUnited States. Federal Highway Administration. Office of Bridge TechnologyUnited States. Federal Highway Administration. Office of Bridges and StructuresUnited States. Federal Highway Administration. Office of Bridge TechnologyUnited StatesConcrete bridgesHighway bridgesBridge decksCondition surveysData collectionData analysisBayes' theoremHighway BridgeConcrete DeckDeterioration RateTime-In-Condition RatingNational Bridge InventoryCondition RatingBinary Logistic RegressionBayesian Survival AnalysisCensored DataFHWA-HIF-18-028This Technical Brief provides an overview of the work completed under Task 10 of the cooperative agreement entitled \u201cAdvancing Steel and Concrete Bridge Technology to Improve Infrastructure Performance Program\u201d. The objective of the research performed under Task 10 was to determine how National Bridge Inventory (NBI) condition ratings could best be used to study the influence of parameters that govern concrete highway bridge deck performance. This research was subdivided into four subtasks. Subtask 1 included an in-depth literature review of reported research on concrete bridge deck durability and service-life models. In Subtask 2, key parameters found to influence durability were identified in the literature. Subtask 3 summarizes the capabilities and limitations of two service-life prediction software packages. As part of Subtask 4, a nationwide database was created that includes identified parameters and two performance parameters were computed: time-in-condition rating (TICR) and deterioration rate (DR). Two analyses were implemented and evaluated to study the relationship between influence and performance parameters: binary logistic regression and Bayesian survival analysis. Bayesian survival analysis is highlighted in this Technical Brief as it was found most practical and useful for an owner or agency to study concrete bridge deck performance.95