Ground Penetrating Radar

GPR enables you to ‘see’ a clearer picture of what is happening beneath the surface – in essence it is an x-ray of the road.

In the pavement industry, GPR is widely used for locating utility lines, monitoring pavement and runways, locating reinforcement bars, changes in layer thicknesses and voids, as well as moisture determination. Key to its success in recent times is in determining construction layers thereby limiting the number of destructive boreholes needed.

Non Destructive Pavement Thickness Data Capture

Ground Penetrating Radar is a highly versatile non destructive method which provides a range of condition and construction information. It is a method where a transducer (transmitter/receiver) is passed over the surface. The transmitter sends out low powered radio energy and reflections from material boundaries and embedded features such as metal or voids are picked up by the receiver. Results can be viewed on-screen and recorded to disk.

Sampling is so rapid that the collected data is effectively a continuous cross section, enabling rapid assessment of thickness and condition over large areas. By assessing the strength and the scatter of signals it is often possible to find voids and changes in compaction, bond and moisture content. GPR is effective on rough surfaces and through multi-layered media, but penetration and resolution are hampered when ‘looking’ through highly conductive materials such as wet clays and soils.