Quantitative Evaluation of Unfilled Grout in Tendons of Prestressed Concrete Girder Bridges by Portable 950 keV/3.95 MeV X-ray Sources

We have developed porTable 950 keV/3.95 MeV X-band (9.3 GHz) electron linear accelerator (LINAC)-based X-ray sources and conducted onsite prestressed concrete (PC) bridge inspection in the last 10 years. A T-shaped PC girder bridge with a thickness of 200–400 mm and a box-shaped PC girder bridge with a thickness of 200–800 mm were tested. X-ray transmission images of flaws such as thinning, fray, and disconnection caused by corrosion of PC wires and unfilled grout were observed. A three-dimensional structural analysis was performed to estimate the reduction in the yield stress of the bridge. In this study, we attempted to evaluate the unfilled grout quantitatively because it is the main flaw that results in water filling and corrosion. In the measured X-ray images, we obtained gray values, which correspond to the X-ray attenuation coefficients of filled/unfilled grouts, PC wires (steel) in a sheath, and concrete. Then, we compared the ratio of the gray values of the filled/unfilled grouts and PC wires to determine the stage of the unfilled grout. We examined this quantitative evaluation using the data obtained from a real T-shaped PC girder bridge and model samples to simulate thick box-shaped PC girder bridges. We obtained a clear quantitative difference in the ratios for unfilled and filled grouts, which coincided with our visual perception. We synthesized the experience and data and proposed a quantitative analysis for evaluating the unfilled grout for subsequent steps such as structural analysis and destructive evaluation by boring surveys.