ABSTRACT
The remaining life prediction is a crucial part of the systematization of maintenance planning because it can be used to estimate the end of service duration of the bridges. This paper describes the details of how to predict the remaining life of an aged RC-T girder bridge based on the chloride ion and carbonation tests results of the concrete cores and the cross-section cutting-off girders as the field tests required to determine the performance of concrete from material(durability) point of view. The concrete cores were tested for both carbonation and chloride ions whereas the cross-section cutting-off girders were tested for carbonation only. The results of the concrete cores investigation show that the main factor in the deterioration of the bridge is carbonation and that chloride ion attack has also contributed to the deterioration of the bridge. In order to establish a method of the remaining life prediction based on the chloride ion and carbonation tests results of the concrete cores and the cross-section cutting-off girders, a flowchart is proposed for the remaining life prediction of an RC bridge based on the extent of deterioration due to carbonation and chloride attack. The end of the service life (duration) was defined as the point at which the cumulative amount of steel corrosion reached a critical value which is obtained by a practical bridge management system (J-BMS BREX) to predict the remaining life of the existing concrete bridges.
