Investigating Fiber Optic Cable with GPR Methods in Infrastructure Studies

Abstract

ome elements such as cold/hot/waste/gas water pipes and telephone/electrical/fiber optic cables are situated in infrastructures of modern cities and large-scale settlements. Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) method is used to detect these elements unknown positions from the surface. Main goal of determining the structural elements in infrastructure investigation prevents damaging of these cables and pipes in any excavation. In this paper, unknown positions of fiber optic cables in underground were aimed to determine by using GPR method with 250, 500 and 800 MHz center frequency antennas. For the purpose, numerical modelling, testing in laboratory and field studies on GPR data have been conducted in the paper. According to results from the study, the quality of radargrams obtained numerical modelling has determined geometrical and physical properties of the cables. A radargram acquired on a profile passed across on testing crate showed clearly high amplitude reflections up to 25 cm in laboratory. 2D/3D GPR images, created to identify lateral extension of fiber optic cable on campus area of Karadeniz Technical University, revealed distinctly reflections. Consequently, in order to determine a better way to do research targets, the numerical modeling and laboratory studies are of great importance before carrying out GPR studies on field.