AUTOMATIC ANALYSIS OF GROUND PENETRATING RADAR (GPR) PROFILE

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The main objective of this research project is to help Radex Detection Inc. create an automatic analysis method for interpreting the Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) profiles of concrete bridge decks using its Dual-Beam radar. In order to achieve this objective, a novel method is proposed here. The method starts with identifying the layers of a bridge deck based on the reflection peaks of the signals in its GPR profile. Then, different digital filters are designed to locate the abnormal regions in each layer. The abnormal regions are further classified with a pre-trained support vector machine (SVM) to eliminate the abnormalities unrelated to the corrosion. This way, a corrosion map could be generated to represent the detailed deterioration conditions of the bridge deck. The proposed method will be implemented in Matlab and evaluated in the field trials of inspecting real concrete bridges in Quebec. It is expected to reduce the time, cost, and effort required in the current GPR profiles interpretation practices in Radex Detection Inc., which are performed manually by profile analysts. The time, cost and effort reductions will further encourage use of the GPR to get detailed and accurate infrastructure deterioration information, when inspecting concrete infrastructures. As a result, the infrastructure owners could make wise and informed maintenance decisions to keep the infrastructures healthy in service to the public, before they are structurally deficient or functionally obsolete.