Multichannel 3D Ground Penetrating Radar ? Advances in Civil Infrastructure Scanning

Abstract

The scope of this paper is to highlight improvements in Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) as an infrastructure condition assessment tool, in particular through the use of multichannel 3D GPR. Multichannel 3D GPR is a relatively new and alternative infrastructure scanning tool which can assist geophysicists and engineers in providing 100% sub-surface coverage of an investigation area, where site access is possible. Advantages of an increased level of subsurface coverage using multichannel 3D GPR includes providing the user with improved accuracy in highlighting and quantifying regions that may require further invasive testing for future maintenance programs and also possible long-term monitoring. This paper briefly discusses current applications of standard GPR for infrastructure condition assessments and how multichannel 3D GPR can improve knowledge of the sub-surface in these application areas. Visualisations of multichannel 3D GPR data outputs with interpretations have been presented to illustrate the improved subsurface information made available from this method. The example presented is an approximately 4 m long section of multichannel 3D GPR data acquired along the surface of a reinforced concrete-lined tunnel.