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An Overview Of Agricultural Drainage Pipe Detection Using Ground Penetrating Radar
- Publisher: European Association of Geoscientists & Engineers
- Source: Conference Proceedings, 17th EEGS Symposium on the Application of Geophysics to Engineering and Environmental Problems, Feb 2004, cp-186-00006
Abstract
Enhancing the efficiency of soil water removal on land already containing a subsurface drainage<br>system typically involves installing new drain lines between the old ones. However, before this<br>approach can be attempted, the older drainage pipes need to be located. In ongoing research, ground<br>penetrating radar (GPR) has been successful in locating on average 72% of the total amount of drainage<br>pipe present at thirteen test plots in southwest, central, and northwest Ohio. The effective use of GPR<br>for drainage pipe detection requires careful consideration of computer processing procedures, equipment<br>parameters, and site conditions, all of which were thoroughly investigated in this study.<br>Application of a signal saturation correction filter along with a spreading and exponential<br>compensation gain function were the computer processing steps most helpful for enhancing the drainage<br>pipe response exhibited within GPR images of the soil profile. GPR amplitude maps that show the<br>overall subsurface drainage pipe system required additional computer processing, which included 2-D<br>migration, signal trace enveloping, and in some cases, a high frequency noise filter and a spatial<br>background subtraction filter. Equipment parameter test results indicate that a 250 MHz antenna<br>frequency worked best, and that data quality is good over a range of spatial sampling intervals and signal<br>trace stacking. In regard to the site conditions present, shallow hydrology, soil texture, and drainage<br>pipe orientation all substantially influence the GPR response. However, the fired clay or plastic material<br>of which the drainage pipe is comprised does not appear to have much of an impact. The information<br>supplied by this study can be employed to formulate guidelines that will enhance the potential of success<br>for using ground penetrating radar in locating buried agricultural drainage pipe.