Development of an Estimation Method for Depth of Spalling Damage in Concrete Pavement by Ultrasonic Velocity Measurement

As the amount of aged pavement increases, functional damage, such as spalling, occurs frequently on Portland Cement Concrete pavement (PCC) in South Korea. However, the existing management method does not properly reflect the scope of deterioration of the pavement causing early damage. To overcome the problem of the existing repair method, this study evaluated the deterioration of functional damage on the surface of the slab as soundness through ultrasonic velocity measurement method among non-destructive testing (NDT) techniques and suggested a method to estimate the depth of deterioration. To develop a method for estimating the depth of the deterioration a slab, a preliminary investigation was conducted to check the range of ultrasonic velocity of concrete pavement in South Korea and to evaluate the variability of NDT equipment. Based on the ultrasonic velocity, the sound rating of concrete pavement was graded from 5 for “very good” to 0 for “very poor”, and the tendency of the ultrasonic velocity to increase according to the depth of the deteriorated areas was confirmed.