Evaluation of the Compatibility of Repair Materials for Concrete Structures

Abstract

This study evaluates the compatibility of repair materials for concrete bridge decks. A new compatibility test set-up was designed and tested based on the concrete bridge deck cracking and delamination mechanism theory. The repair materials used in this study include lab formulated inorganic nano-aluminum silicates and commercially available organic two-part epoxy systems. Two different lab test-setups are proposed in this study: a prototype and a full-scale test. The developed test procedures were effective in communicating results in terms of compatibility of material properties, performance and quality. The prototype beams test can successfully serve as a small scale screening test providing insights on materials selection for the full-scale beam tests. The full-scale beams demonstrated the compatibility of the repaired system by providing data on authentic field conditions. Based on the observations it can be concluded that the proposed test setup is effective in examining the concrete bridge deck repair materials performance and selection, and compatibility in terms of mechanical properties and further guarantee the repaired structure safety.