Repair of Impacted Concrete Bridge Beams

Reinforced and prestressed concrete bridge superstructures impacted by overheight trucks may require the bridge to be categorized as structurally deficient in case the impact causes moderate to severe damage. Consequently, load posting on the bridge may be required. In some instances, the bridge will be closed. A number of incidences have been reported where concrete blocks have come loose from the impacted region, days or weeks following the impact, and fell on vehicles traveling under the impacted beams causing harm, or even death, to the vehicle occupants.

This paper presents a two-stage approach for the containment and repair of the damage area in impacted concrete bridge beams. The first approach outlines the immediate action following an impact to prevent loose concrete blocks from falling on the traveling public. The second approach outlines the methodology for repairing the impacted area and also providing containment in the event future impacts were to occur. A discussion of the advantages and limitations of this approach, along with the lessons learned from the field applications are presented in the paper