Arlington Memorial Bridge is a reinforced concrete spandrel arch bridge that connects Washington, DC and Virginia across the Potomac River. After over 85 years in service, the bridge started exhibiting signs of deterioration, including reinforcement corrosion. As part of a major rehabilitation effort to extend the bridge’s service life, targeted cathodic protection (CP) systems were installed in the arch cross-walls, floors, and under arches to mitigate and prevent corrosion. The implemented CP system consisted of galvanic and two-stage anodes to mitigate corrosion. Galvanic anodes were installed in the repair areas to prevent the ring anode affect and ensure a durable concrete repair. The two-stage anodes were installed in areas of concrete which were actively corroding without signs of concrete deterioration.
This is your opportunity to learn what’s happening with ICRI. 2020 President Mark LeMay will host a recap of the past year, with 2021 President Elena Kessi providing some highlights of what to expect in the near future. We will update you on our newest class of 40 Under 40 recipients and acknowledge our Supporting Members. This is also our opportunity to introduce to you the association’s 2021 Board of Directors and express gratitude to those remarkable volunteers whose technical and administrative committee service ended in 2020.
Dealing with water is always a challenge when constructing a new structure. Whether it is water infiltration that was expected, or water manages to circumvent pre-planned waterproofing methods, it can wreak havoc on the building and interfere with construction schedules. The term “belt and suspenders” is often used in waterproofing and there is a good reason for it. Water chooses the path of least resistance, and many times that path is not discovered until it is too late. There are many methods of water control that can be implemented before, during and after a structure is completed. This presentation will focus on water control methods for new construction that can be implemented during or after the construction process.
In June 2016, ACI published ACI 562-16,” Code Requirements for Assessment, Repair and Rehabilitation of Existing Concrete Structures and Commentary”. ACI 562-16 replaces ACI 562-13 as a standard for the repair of existing concrete structures. Significant changes to ACI 562-16 include improvements in terminology for consistency with ISO, ASCE and other documents, inclusion of requirements for level of repair based upon extent of damage present, and revisions to the interface bond provisions. The video will describe the concrete repair code, focusing on key changes made to the code and describe how the code is to be used on concrete repair projects.
A follow-on presentation to the discussion of our evaluation of over 1500 tire and lube facilities across the United States that prescribed immediate repairs where necessary, reinforcement where deterioration reduced capacity below acceptable levels and coatings necessary to protect structural steel and structural concrete (i.e. our 2019 Philadelphia presentation). This will be an in-depth presentation of how repairs were specified for (3) specific types of structures. The (3) structure types are exposed structural concrete, composite metal deck and fully reinforced form deck slabs all supported by steel structures and reinforced concrete walls. Presentation will include before, during and completion photos of each project discussed. Again, touch on the evaluation processes to include demand to capacity ratios review, evaluation system and inspection form, triggers to determine when shoring is necessary, calculation of capacities per AISC 360, ACI 318, ACI 562 and local building codes.
The prestressed beams in the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel Approach Spans were fabricated in about 1960 (west bound lane) and 1970 (east bound lane). The spans are 50-ft and 75-ft, respectively. The brackish water environment caused corrosion and failure of the bottom strands and deterioration and spalling of the cover concrete in many beams. A project in 2018 strengthened 30 of the more deteriorated beams as an alternative to posting or replacing the bridges. Carbon fiber composite wrap (CFCW) and external post-tensioning (PT) were used to strengthen the beams. Prior to construction, a PT mockup was done with one 50-ft (flexible filler) and one 75-ft (grout) beam to demonstrate that the contractor had the materials, equipment and staff to successfully do the external PT. This presentation describes the project’s mockups and construction and the anticipated increase in strength to be obtained from application of the CFCW and external PT.
A significant percentage of repairs are performed during the course of constructing new structures. Once a construction anomaly or error occurs the first concerns are for life safety and schedule impact. A review of the steps necessary to successfully perform repairs and minimize impacts to the ongoing construction. Examples of challenging problems and the traditional and non-traditional solutions to these problems will be discussed.
Alkali-Silica Reaction (ASR) can cause significant damage to concrete structures including bridges, roadways, airport runways, and nuclear power plants. When reactive aggregates are included in a mix, the presence of moisture initiates a reaction between the alkaline cement paste and reactive amorphous silica. The result is a gel that continues to dilate, which may cause cracks in the concrete mass. A research program was undertaken at the University of Toronto to investigate the effects of ASR on large-scale and small-scale concrete specimens. Several specimens were constructed using reactive (ASR) concrete and non-reactive (regular) concrete, and their short-term and long-term structural and mechanical behavior were compared. In this presentation, we will discuss the results of the research program, will offer best practices to minimize the risk of ASR in concrete during placement, and will propose several strategies for repair of structures that have been degraded due to ASR.
Nondestructive testing is often used in conjunction with traditional methods to assess construction, material, or structural deficiencies in new construction. This presentation describes evaluation of unique delamination failures within below-grade, exterior walls of a new subway station. The walls were conventionally reinforced mass concrete cast against a soldier pile and lagging retention system. Shortly after construction, leakage at cracks and joints was observed and injection processes led to delamination of the interior surfaces. The assessment objectives were to determine the extent and cause of near-surface discontinuities and evaluate the structural integrity of the walls. Nondestructive testing included flaw detection using Impulse Response [structural mobility testing] and reinforcement locating using ground-penetrating radar. Sampling and petrographic examinations were conducted to correlate test results with distress conditions and evaluate the in-situ concrete.
Two projects will be explored in this presentation. The first is a concrete structure which for 20 years was exposed to extreme heat. The second is a structure which was exposed to extreme vibrations. Both these structures were integral parts of manufacturing processes and required limited down time to repair. The questions needing to be answered were: what is the condition of the existing concrete and what are the repair options for these structures. We turned to non-destructive techniques to evaluate these structures. Non-destructive techniques can provide insight into structures when accompanied by experienced engineers and petrographic analysis. Repair options were provided at the end of our evaluation leading to reduced down time and well-planned repairs.