Recognition of Rebar in Ground-Penetrating Radar Data for the Second Lining of a Tunnel

Abstract

Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) detects a tunnel with relatively low-frequency electromagnetic waves, which can result in poorly characterized reinforced steel bar (rebar) hyperbolas and make it challenging to recognize rebar. Thus, the rebar is located by using attenuation and reflection coefficients, and the hyperbolic feature of the rebar is reconstructed for recognition. Due to differences in the electromagnetic properties of rebar and other media in the second lining, the position of rebar in the one-dimensional time wave diagram (A-scan) is determined by using the attenuation and reflection coefficients. The rebar is recognized at the peak point in the A-scan. This peak point is in the opposite phase of the incident wave. The amplitude of these peaks is smaller than the peaks of the adjacent points. Then, these negative peak points are reconstructed on the two-dimensional scanning data (B-scan). Finally, the rebar is recognized by using the hyperbolic feature of the rebar. The method is applied in the Husa Tunnel in Yunnan Province, China. Moreover, in the mileage section YK81+506–YK81+542 of the Husa Tunnel, the hyperbolic feature of the reconstructed rebar is evident, and the rebar appears in the region of 5–7 ns in the B-scan.