Comparative investigation into field performance of steel bridge deck asphalt overlay systems

摘要

The steel bridge deck overlay provides a smooth surface for riding and protects the deck from influence of traffic and environment factors. The presence of distress on overlay may compromise the serviceability of a bridge. A better understanding of distress is indispensable for designers to make improvements on asphalt overlay to extend the service life. A field investigation into performance of two bridge deck asphalt overlay systems was conducted. The overlay system included an epoxy asphalt overlay and a composite asphalt overlay consisting of Stone-Matrix-Asphalt (SMA) and Gussasphalt (GA). The field investigation was conducted to evaluate the difference in performance between two systems. Chemical analyses were performed on core samples from each bridge to further investigate the distress mechanism of each system. Results indicated that the two overlay systems generally exhibited similar field performance. Each bridge developed different distress, mainly due to the poor bonding between layers or between overlay and steel deck.