The Georadar technique has many practical applications in many research fields (geology, engineering, architecture, environment, restoration, excavations, archaeology, etc.). Some of the applications are listed below:
- Determination of the condition of the foundation of structures, buildings, bridges...
- Determination of the condition of the conservation of building façades
- Determination of different lithologies of the subsoil, depth and geometry
- Location of cracks and fractures in rocks
- Determination of subsoil pollutants, hydrocarbons...
- Location of services and buried artificial structures (pipes, tanks...)
- Location of cavities in the subsoil
- ....
The Georadar or GPR method (Ground Probing Radar) produces continuous high-resolution profiles similar to those produced by reflection seismic. The main advantages of this technique are the speed of data acquisition (each measurement point or trace is taken in a few seconds), the versatility in terms of availability of the system due to the possibility of exchanging antennas of different frequencies, the parameters of the electromagnetic wave and its non-destructive nature.
The main disadvantage is the excessive dependence on the characteristics of the terrain to which it is applied due to certain circumstances that attenuate the penetration of the electromagnetic impulse (such as the existence of high clay and/or humidity levels) and, therefore, the detectability of subsurface structures. Conductivity produces a decrease in impulse energy, so the higher the conductivity, the greater the attenuation that occurs.
The physical principle of the method that is used consists of the fact that underground radar equipment radiate short pulses of radio-frequency electromagnetic energy to the ground through a transmitting antenna.
The digital signal of the radar waves has been recorded in the form of a binary file using a laptop, which facilitates its subsequent computer processing. In order to improve the representation of the results, different numeric filters and signal amplifiers have been used, according to the needs of the research.
