Purpose of Test
Many of the more than 171,000 bridges in Japan were constructed over 50 years ago. Bridges, especially those located in an area with heavy snowfall, are exposed to tough condition. In this case study, Concrete Tester (CTS-02v4) was used to assess compressive strength of a bridge slab in Hokkaido, where they have the coldest winters and heaviest snowfall in Japan, with 6 months out of the year hovering around freezing and an average snowfall around 9-10 inches.

Measurement Procedure
Some parts of the bridge slab were in danger of collapsing due to frost damage. Measurement points were arranged at constant intervals (200mm x 100mm) to assess current compressive strength distribution of the slab. An inspector strikes 3 times at each point with CTS-02v4, and the average value was used to evaluate the compressive strength at each point.

Results of the Test
Measurement results are shown as Figure 1. Red lines in the figure shows cracks on the slab. Compressive strength tends to be lower where cracks are clustered together. Although apparent critical damage was not observed, partial repair was conducted to maintain the durability of the slab.
Advantage of CTS-02v4
There are several types of NDT equipment for compressive strength estimation such as the rebound hammer, impact elastic wave method, or ultrasonic wave method. CTS-02v4 was selected for this case because it is easy to use and systematically and efficiently measures compressive strength and deterioration compared to other NDT equipment.
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