Soil Characterisation and Its Effect on Depth Accuracy Using Ground Penetrating Radar

Abstract

Assessing depth of utility in different soil moisture conditions require good research. Moreover, different soil moisture conditions produce depths that are not the same as one another. The information of underground utility such as depth is very important to avoid damage towards utility during excavation process. Therefore, this study was conducted to assess the depth recorded by the (GPR) equipment in different soil condition in terms of soil moisture. The first objective of this study was to determine the soil moisture level for three different soil conditions. Next, this study evaluated the depth accuracy produced by the GPR equipment with the different soil moisture level such as dry, semi-dry and wet. Different soil moisture conditions were determined by the sampling of the three soil conditions. These samples were taken and tested using speedy soil moisture tester equipment that provided the percentage of soil moisture content. Next, the depth of utility was taken at the three soil moisture conditions and an assessment was made. The shape of hyperbolic on the radargram was generated from the equipment and was used to assess the accuracy of the depth. The information from this study is very useful to underground utility users which can help the development of the country in general. It also benefits the improvement of the preparation quality of underground utility mapping.