3D Reconstruction of Tree Roots under Heterogeneous Soil Conditions using Ground Penetrating Radar

Abstract

Coarse roots can cause damage to pipes, pavements and building foundations. Hence, reconstructing tree root system in its three dimensions is of paramount importance to understand and reduce interactions between trees and urban infrastructures. Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) is a promising non-invasive technique for the study of tree roots. In this contribution, a 3D GPR simulation was carried out on two roots having elemental architectures in order to be reconstructed. The simulation was performed with GprMax software under heterogeneous soil conditions. Considering a heterogeneous soil not only provided a realistic soil model, but also enabled us to test the robustness of our post-processing techniques. We mainly used a Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) combined with the matched filter technique