United States Department of Transportation
i
Impact of Vehicle Fires on Polymer Concrete Bridge Deck Overlays
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2024-07-01
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[PDF-8.38 MB]
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Edition:Final Report
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Abstract:Polymer concrete (PC) has found increasing use in construction over the last few decades. One common use of this material is as an overlay material on bridges and highways. This use can be attributed to some advantages of this material such as its high bond strength with substrate concrete, short curing times, good resistance to water and chlorine penetration, and excellent skid and abrasion resistance. However, PC is susceptible to degradation upon exposure to elevated temperatures. Thus, it has become necessary to accurately characterize its behavior under such conditions and propose remedies to limit the deterioration. This study set out to do this, by carrying out a vehicle fire test on a slab with PC overlaid on it. Performance properties, including skid resistance, surface hardness, resistance to water and chloride penetration, abrasion resistance, bond strength and resistance to delamination, were utilized to characterize the behavior of this material before and after exposure to the vehicle fire. The results showed a significant decrease in performance across all parameters after exposure to the elevated temperatures. As a remedy, this study suggested the application of an intumescent coating, which uses a blend of fire-retardant materials (including expandable graphite, aluminum trihydrate and calcium carbonate) mixed into polyester binder resin, to cover the surface of the PC. Preliminary tests indicate that this method holds promise for mitigating the rapid deterioration of PC when exposed to elevated temperatures.
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