Damage assessment in roadways with ground penetrating radar

Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) can be an effective technique for assessing internal damage levels in concrete roadways. Damage to concrete roadways, particularly those on bridges, can have large economic consequences. Damage often takes the form of corrosion of reinforcing bars, the promotion of internal cracking, eventually large-scale spalling, and the formation of deep potholes. This damage usually initiates internally and does not appear on the surface until it is at an advanced state. The use of asphalt overlays further exacerbates this problem. One of the most important, yet difficult to identify, defects is a delamination, which can be due to expansion associated with reinforcing bar corrosion. The GPR reflections from a delamination can be relatively weak, whereas the reflection from a reinforcing bar can be fairly strong. Identifying the damage levels at an early stage can be used as a guide for efficiently planning maintenance activities. This paper presents the results of a laboratory and field study that focused on GPR methods of detecting delaminations in concrete roadways. The measurement technique used 0.5 to 6.0 GHz air-coupled waves to probe the roadways. Delaminations as small as 0.5 mm were simulated and detected in the laboratory. Field measurements are suggestive that this technique can be effective for field use.