Maintenance and design of steel abutment piles in Iowa bridges.

Details

• Creators:
  Clarke, Wade M. ; Krauss, Paul D. ; Lawler, John S.
• Corporate Creators:
  Wiss, Janney, Elstner, and Associates
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  • Bridge abutments
  • Steel
  • Piles (Supports)
  • Anticorrosion coatings
  • Surface preparation
  • Cathodic protection
  • Field tests
  • Laboratory tests
• Publication/ Report Number:
  TR-622
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  Iowa
• Corporate Publisher:
  Iowa. Dept. of Transportation ; Iowa. Highway Research Board
• Abstract:
  Soil consolidation and erosion caused by roadway runoff have exposed the upper portions of steel piles at the abutments of ; numerous bridges, leaving them susceptible to accelerated corrosion rates due to the abundance of moisture, oxygen, and ; chlorides at these locations. This problem is compounded by the relative inaccessibility of abutment piles for close-up inspection ; and repair. The objective of this study was to provide bridge owners with recommendations for effective methods of addressing ; corrosion of steel abutment piles in existing and future bridges ; A review of available literature on the performance and protection of steel piles exposed to a variety of environments was ; performed. Eight potential coating systems for use in protecting existing and/or new piles were selected and subjected to ; accelerated corrosion conditions in the laboratory. Two surface preparation methods were evaluated in the field and three ; coating systems were installed on three piles at an existing bridge where abutment piles had been exposed by erosion. In ; addition, a passive cathodic protection (CP) system using sacrificial zinc anodes was tested in the laboratory. Several trial ; flowable mortar mixes were evaluated for use in conjunction with the CP system. ; For existing abutment piles, application of a protective coating system is a promising method of mitigating corrosion. Based on ; its excellent performance in accelerated corrosion conditions in the laboratory on steel test specimens with SSPC-SP3, -SP6, and ; -SP10 surface preparations, glass flake polyester is recommended for use on existing piles. An alternative is epoxy over organic ; zinc rich primer. Surface preparation of existing piles should include abrasive blast cleaning to SSPC-SP6. Although additional ; field testing is needed, based on the results of the laboratory testing, a passive CP system could provide an effective means of ; protecting piles in existing bridges when combined with a pumped mortar used to fill voids between the abutment footing and ; soil. The addition of a corrosion inhibitor to the mortar appears to be beneficial. ; For new construction, shop application of thermally sprayed aluminum or glass flake polyester to the upper portion of the piles is ; recommended.
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• Format:
  PDF
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/29592/dot_29592_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 7.92 MB]
• Collection(s):
  US Transportation Collection
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:d5ce33ac304f3af7678d8de3125b1f0f2a8530b001bec9928c1f474f8ac9fb25a533a912e997232051d5e985ae6a0adeb14c28a5aebe19d2a336b1938e9d453e