The Detection of the Buried Pipes Using GPR in Utility Works: A Case Study

Abstract

The increasing population and accordingly the new settlement ultimately need for the utility. Location and attribute information of utilities significantly affect the maintenance, repair and construction of utilities. The lack of such information causes accidents resulting in material and moral damages in utility excavations ‘especially in the city’. The lack of information on utility works in our country raises problems such as damage to another utility during the work, being unable to complete the work on time, affecting vehicle and pedestrian traffic. This study has focused on the detectability of utilities with unknown location and attribute (diameter) using a ground penetrating radar (GPR) based on simulation model and field surveys. An antenna frequency of 300 MHz was chosen in both applications. The analysis of the data obtained from the simulation model revealed positive results in terms of the usability of the GPR for the determination of location and attributes in utility works. Furthermore, the results of the field studies demonstrated that if the dielectric constants of a utility element and of its location are close, data on the utility cannot be obtained; if the trench base is narrow, it gives a hyperbola reflection like pipeline; and if it is not analyzed carefully, this pseudo- reflection may lead to mistakes. The field study shows that if there are no continuous hyperbola reflections on consecutive radargrams, the possibility that the reflection may not be due to pipeline should be considered.