Sampling Guidelines for Measuring Cover Depth on New Concrete Bridge Decks Using a Rolling Cover Meter

The objective of this research was to propose initial guidelines for the use of a rolling cover meter for quality assurance testing of new concrete bridge decks. The scope of work included measuring the cover depth of a recently constructed concrete bridge deck using 13 longitudinal passes of a rolling cover meter, evaluating the degree to which various combinations of the individual passes were representative of the overall deck, and recommending specific sampling guidelines for further consideration in quality assurance testing of new concrete bridge decks. Only two combinations, including the six girder passes and the five panel passes, yielded a median, mean, and standard deviation that match the corresponding values computed for all of the passes. While the combination including the five panel passes yielded percentages below and above the target cover depth that are 13 percentage points different from the values computed for all of the passes, the combination including the six girder passes yielded values that exactly match the values computed for all of the passes. Therefore, the combination including the six girder passes is recommended for further consideration. For application to other bridge decks, which may be wider or narrower than the deck tested in this research and therefore constructed using greater or fewer numbers of girders, respectively, this approach of measuring the cover depth along the middle of each girder is conveniently scalable.