Development and evaluation of a pothole patching material for steel bridge deck pavement

Abstract

Pothole is one of the most serious distresses of steel bridge deck pavement. Rapid and durable patching material is required for pothole treatment to reduce the maintenance influence on transportation service. In this paper, a cold-mixed patching material was developed on the basis of a fast cured thermosetting binder. The optimal binder formula was determined by optimization and balancing of mechanical property, workability and strength development, through tensile tests, viscosity tests and differential scanning calorimetry tests. After that, the high temperature performance, low temperature performance, moisture susceptibility and fatigue performance of the newly developed material were evaluated through a laboratory experimental program, including wheel track test, 3-point bending beam test, indirect tensile test and fatigue test. On the other hand, a numerical simulation was conducted to assess the structural performance of the material when using on the steel bridge deck. The result showed that the developed binder material had tensile strength over 2MPa and elongation over 100%. The workable time was over 30 min and the favorable compaction time was 36 min after mixing at 25 °C. The patching material had a rapid traffic reopen capability in three hours. In addition, the developed material had rather good mechanical and structural performance when used in pothole patching on steel bridge deck pavement.