Cracking Mechanism and Repair Techniques of Epoxy Asphalt on Steel Bridge Deck Pavement

Abstract

Epoxy asphalt concrete is widely used for long-span steel bridge deck pavement in China. Because of the heavy traffic load and extreme climatic conditions, epoxy asphalt deck pavement tends to develop cracks, debonding, and potholes and needs reconstructing typically after 5 to 10 years. Research was performed on the cracking mechanism under both traffic and thermal loads, with the aim of finding the best sealing material. The performances of various crack-sealing materials, including workability, mechanical property, and durability, were evaluated. Test methods such as the simplified penetration ability test and bending fatigue test were employed for rating the crack-sealing materials. Experimental results revealed that the traditional crack-sealing materials, such as bitumen modified with styrene–butadiene–styrene, rubber bitumen, bitumen emulsion, and solvent bitumen, cannot meet the requirements for repairing epoxy asphalt on long-span bridge decks because of the low penetration ability and low adhesive strength. Results showed that cracks could be repaired well with epoxy resin–sealing materials, which showed great penetration ability, high bond strength, large deformation capacity, and short curing time.

Fatigue Cracking Resistance of Engineered Cementitious Composites (ECC) under Working Condition of Orthotropic Steel Bridge Decks Pavement

“…The fatigue cracking diseases usually appear after 2-3 years under the action of negative bending caused by longitudinal stiffening ribs in the lower part of the steel deck, which seriously affects the durability of the pavement [4,5].…”

Chemo-Rheological Study of Hardening of Epoxy Modified Bituminous Binders with the Finite Element Method

“…Due to the challenge to minimize the public expenditures and the road administration costs for repairing and re-paving the transport infrastructure networks, epoxy modified bituminous binders have captured the interest of road authorities as an important alternative to conventional binder technologies. Nowadays, bituminous materials modified with epoxy-type resins are used mainly for pavements in tunnels, steel deck bridges and at intersections of heavy duty roads to provide enhanced performance without major repairs for more than 30-40 years (1)(2)(3)(4)(5).…”

Study on Fatigue Test and Life Prediction of Polyurethane Cement Composite (PUC) under High or Low Temperature Conditions

“…Water and salt ions are more likely to contact the steel roof from the cracks in the pavement. e steel is corroded, and durability of the steel bridge is reduced [8,9]. In terms of the diseases of asphalt mixture in steel bridge deck pavement, polyurethane cement composite (PUC) can eliminate the diseases in asphalt mixture.…”

“…where A 1 ∼A 3 are constants. Substitute formula (9) into formula (8) and get the following expression after sorting out:…”