Application of ground-penetrating radar method to detect underground pipes in PAIR BATAN utility area

Abstract

Underground pipeline systems dominate today’s urban area landscape. This buried pipeline system will continuously develop along with the utility change. The planning for underground pipelines should be done to avoid mistakes in the pipeline path. Thus, mapping for the underground pipeline is necessary to obtain a database for any upcoming construction development. This research purpose is to detect underground pipelines around utility areas using the ground-penetrating radar (GPR) method. A frequency of 300 MHz was used to acquire GPR data from 6 lines, with a total length of 22.6m for each line and 0.5m for the line spacing. A sequence of processing stages of the GPR data was conducted using matGPR, a MATLAB-based program. Interpretable GPR profiles from each measurement line are obtained after adjusting signal position, removing DC, Dewow, mean filter, gaining, removing global background, and KL-filter. The results show an obvious amplitude reflection anomaly. Each line has similar detected underground pipes from its vertical axis, travel time, and horizontal distance. Clearly, all lines show an obvious contrast anomaly located at the 2.5 m horizontal distance. This most striking anomaly is interpreted as a water tunnel. In comparison, the other five parabolic-shaped anomalies were identified as underground pipes.