Impact of gradational electrical properties on GPR detection of interfaces

Author

Diamanti, N. ; Annan, A.P. ; Redman, J.D.

Author_Institution

Sensors & Software Inc., Mississauga, ON, Canada

fYear

2014

fDate

June 30 2014-July 4 2014

Firstpage

529

Lastpage

534

Abstract

Detecting subsurface media interfaces is a common practice for most geophysical methods and more specifically ground penetrating radar (GPR). In the majority of GPR applications, the boundaries of these interfaces are assumed to be sharp. Quite often interfaces are gradational and are difficult to detect and consequently map. Previous work has mainly focused on more simplistic one-dimensional modelling. In this paper, we employ three-dimensional (3D) finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) numerical modelling to address this problem. We examine the impact of a gradational zone in electrical properties (conductivity and/or relative permittivity) between underlying layers on GPR signals. The thickness of this transition zone and the GPR operating frequency have a significant impact on the GPR reflected wavelet amplitude and character.

Keywords

electrical conductivity; finite difference time-domain analysis; ground penetrating radar; permittivity; radar detection; 3D FDTD numerical modelling; GPR signals; conductivity; geophysical methods; gradational electrical properties; ground penetrating radar detection; one-dimensional modelling; operating frequency; reflected wavelet amplitude; relative permittivity; subsurface media interfaces; three-dimensional finite-difference time-domain modelling; transition zone; Ground penetrating radar; Time-domain analysis; 3D numerical modelling; FDTD; GPR; Gradational interface; transition zone;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR), 2014 15th International Conference on

Conference_Location

Brussels

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/ICGPR.2014.6970480

Filename

6970480