Ground-Penetrating Radar Evaluation of Moisture and Frost across Typical Saskatchewan Road Soils

Abstract

This study was undertaken to evaluate the effect of soil type, moisture content, and the presence of frost on road substructure permittivity. Permittivity sensitivity of typical road soils was characterized in the laboratory to provide baseline dielectric constant values which were compared to field ground penetrating radar (GPR) survey results. Both laboratory devices, the complex dielectric network analyzer and the Adek Percometer, as well as the field GPR system were used in this study to measure the dielectric constant of soils. All three systems differentiated between coarse-grained and fine grained soils. In addition, at temperatures below freezing, all three systems identified an increase in water content in soils; however, when frozen, the sensitivity of dielectric constant across soil type and moisture content was significantly reduced. Based on the findings of this study, GPR technology has the ability to characterize in situ substructure soil type and moisture content of typical Saskatchewan road substructure soils. Given the influence of road soil type and moisture content on in-service road performance, this ability could provide road engineers with accurate estimates of in situ structural condition of road structures for preservation and rehabilitation planning and optimization purposes.

An Approach for Estimating Underground‐Goaf Boundaries Based on Combining DInSAR with a Graphical Method

“…Following this, the inflection point of the incline section and the depth of the dip and rise directions are used to determine the coal seam inclination as α � 4.3 °. en the propagation angle was calculated by equation (7). And the calculated boundary of the incline section could be determined by the propagation angel and the inflection point.…”

“…Geophysical techniques refer to the detection of geological conditions, such as lithology and geological structures, via the investigation of changes in various geophysical fields [3]. Typical geophysical techniques include gravimetric, electromagnetic, and geothermal methods [4][5][6][7]. Drilling technology refers to the use of drilling equipment to drill through rock formations at a predetermined location in order to extract physical samples and other relevant data for experiments [8].…”

A Method for Cavity Scale Estimation Based on Ground‐Penetrating Radar (GPR) Explorations: An Experimental Study

“…According to the characteristics of the underground medium, the frequency used for GPR explorations should be appropriately changed according to the stratum of the exploration subject, the status of the surface of the earth, the status of the underground water, and the surrounding environment. When using an antenna with a high base frequency of 500 MHz, the depth of the exploration varies according to the permittivity and the electrical conductivity of the underground, which is generally between 2 m and 3 m. If the surface is an asphalt pavement, the penetration depth is reduced to 1 to 2 m, as the energy of the electromagnetic waves to penetrate to the bottom weakens, reflecting much energy at the boundary of the packaging [10].…”

A comparison of modified free‐space (MFS), GPR, and TDR techniques for permittivity characterisation of unbound granular pavement materials

“…; Shang and Umana ), surface probes (Berthelot et al . ; Chang, Chen, and Wu ; Loizos and Plati ; Saarenketo ), resonant cavities (Fauchard et al . ), waveguides (Panzner, Jostingmeier and Abbas ), surface reflection measurements (Panzner et al .…”