A Weighting Function-Based Method for Resistivity Inversion in Subsurface Investigations

Abstract

There is a high demand for high detection accuracy and resolution with respect to anomalous bodies due to the increased development of underground spaces. This study focused on the weighted inversion of observed data from individual array type electrical resistivity tomography (ERT), and developed an improved method of applying a data weighing function to the geoelectrical inversion procedure. In this method, the weighting factor as an observed data weighting term was introduced into the objective function. For individual arrays, the sensitivity decreases with increasing electrode interval. Therefore, the Jacobian matrices were computed for the observed data of individual arrays to determine the value of the weighting factor, and the weighting factor was calculated automatically during inversion. In this work, 2D combined inversion of ERT data from four-electrode Alfa-type arrays is examined. The effectiveness of the weighted inversion method was demonstrated using various synthetic and real data examples. The results indicated that the inversion method based on observed data weighted function could improve the contribution of observed data with depth information to the objective function. It has been proven that the combined weighted inversion method could be a feasible tool for improving the accuracies of positioning and resolution while imaging deep anomalous bodies in the subsurface.