Ground Penetrating Radar Applications in Civil Infrastructures

Dear Colleagues,

Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) is a non-destructive geophysical technology applied in many different fields to survey structures and soils in order to detect embedded objects. This technique is based on the emission, propagation and reception of electromagnetic pulses. The waves propagate through the media, being refracted and reflected in the contact surfaces between zones with different electromagnetic parameters. The reflected waves are recorded on the surface with an antenna, allowing the detection of targets inside the media. In recent decades, this technology has been applied in the assessment of buildings and other civil infrastructures, in a wide range of applications that include concrete-made, masonry and wooden structures. These applications are focused on the location, testing, imaging and diagnosis of the assessed structure. The relatively new attempt to assess the condition through GPR is in sync with the aging crisis of global civilian infrastructure. However, it is crucial to determine and understand the capabilities and limitations of the technology. Many working objectives of studies and tests have been dedicated to analyzing the condition of applicability as well as introducing automatic pattern recognition and mechanized data acquisition procedures.

This Special Issue focuses on using GPR to solve difficulties related to a variety of civil infrastructure issues, considering the special difficulty of surveys in urban areas. It seeks to compile recent innovations, best practices, automatizations of data analysis and data acquisition, and GPR applications to systems used in civil infrastructure. The scope of this Special Issue includes, but is not limited to, the following topics:

• GPR technology in condition assessment of concrete, masonry and wooden structures;
• GPR technology in damage detection in structures;
• GPR techniques in subsidence and sinkholes detection;
• GPR applications in the study of corrosion;
• GPR assessment in urban scenarios;
• Automatic pattern recognition and AI applications to GPR surveys;
• GPR signal and data processing techniques: developments and examples;
• Case studies and applications in the assessment of bridges, pavements, roads, railways, tunnels, buildings, dams, buried pipes, retaining walls, cultural heritage and other civil structures;
• Analysis of capabilities and limitations of urban GPR surveys;
• Combination of GPR surveys with other NDT or destructive techniques.

Prof. Dr. Vega Perez-Gracia
Dr. Mercedes Solla
Dr. Simona Fontul
Guest Editors

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• ground penetrating radar (GPR)
• non-destructive evaluation (NDE)/non-destructive testing (NDT)
• geophysical surveys
• urban scenarios
• civil engineering/civil infrastructure assessments
• concrete/masonry/wooden structures
• bridges/pavements/roads/tunnels/buildings/dams/buried pipes/walls inspection
• structural damages