Determining the location of high-depth buried pipes using shallow seismic reflection techniques

Abstract

As the complexity of underground infrastructure increases, the demand for accurate non-destructive underground exploration grows. Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) is commonly used for such explorations; however, its effectiveness is limited beyond depths of approximately 1 m due to significant electromagnetic wave attenuation. This study aims to surpass these depth limitations by employing seismic waves for precise location estimation of buried pipes. Real-scale experiments were conducted on sites with pipes buried at depths 1.5 m and 2.5 m, demonstrating the effectiveness of our proposed method. We introduced a signal and image processing algorithm, enhanced integrating ridge detection and template matching, for more accurate buried pipe location estimation. Results revealed that the locations of buried pipes could be estimated with an error margin of less than 0.2 m. Furthermore, our approach not only enables objective visualization of survey results but also suggests a reduction in the number of sensors required compared to traditional expert visual inspections.