Evaluation of Damage in RC Bridge Decks Reinforced with Steel Plates by AE Tomography

The aging of infrastructures has been one of the serious problems around the world, and innovative maintenance systems are desired. In Japan, an enormous budget is going to be paid for renewal projects of civil engineering structures, which were constructed during the period of high economic growth in 1960s. Some of severe cases are found in the RC bridge decks, peculiarly reinforced by steel plates on the bottom, as their conditions are difficult to be evaluated by the visual inspection or conventional NDEs. In order to implement an appropriate maintenance or renewal for this type of bridge decks, an accurate and practical damage evaluation system for RC bridge decks reinforced with steel plates should be established.