Updates on material property estimation for concrete using attribute
analysis and ground penetrating radar
Abstract
Estimating material properties of natural materials is a goal shared
between near-surface exploration, infrastructure management, and even
conservation of historic sites. Existing methods (e.g., seismic,
ultrasonics, and direct testing) for characterizing these properties of
interest are not yet available at the desired scale or configuration.
GPR is an established method for characterizing the physical
configuration of these sites by mapping subsurface features. A new
analysis method applying seismic and image processing attribute analysis
to GPR data has promising results for material identification and
possibly characterization. To further explore this capacity, an
experiment to characterize concrete laboratory specimens using GPR was
performed. Creating a unique data set, GPR scans and attribute analyses
are paired with direct testing of the samples. A variety of attributes
and regression analyses have been able to predict porosity of the
samples from the mean instantaneous GPR amplitudes with some success (R2
= 0.8). Density and compressive strength are more difficult to predict
from the GPR data, but porosity is an excellent proxy property that can
be related to other physical properties using secondary relationships.
By continuing to explore these relationships and test them on GPR data
for other materials (stone, brick, etc.), the results could be extended
and refined to provide fine-scale estimation of important properties to
characterize reservoirs, basins, and other geological or anthropogenic
features of interest.