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Application of GPR reverse time migration in tunnel lining cavity imaging

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Abstract

Correctly locating the tunnel lining cavity is extremely important tunnel quality inspection. High-accuracy imaging results are hard to obtain because conventional one-way wave migration is greatly affected by lateral velocity change and inclination limitation and because the diffracted wave cannot be accurately returned to the real spatial position of the lining cavity. This paper presents a tunnel lining cavity imaging method based on the ground-penetrating radar (GPR) reverse-time migration (RTM) algorithm. The principle of GPR RTM is described in detail using the electromagnetic wave equation. The finite-difference timedomain method is employed to calculate the backward extrapolation electromagnetic fields, and the zero-time imaging condition based on the exploding-reflector concept is used to obtain the RTM results. On this basis, the GPR RTM program is compiled and applied to the simulated and observed GPR data of a typical tunnel lining cavity GPR model and a physical lining cavity model. Comparison of RTM and Kirchhoff migration results reveals that the RTM can better converge the diffracted waves of steel bar and cavity to their true position and have higher resolution and better suppress the effect of multiple interference and clutter scattering waves. In addition, comparison of RTM results of different degrees of noise shows that RTM has strong anti-interference ability and can be used for the accurate interpretation of radar profile in a strong interference environment.

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Acknowledgments

The research work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 41764005, 41604039, 41604102, and 41574078), Guangxi Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 2016GXNSFBA380082 and 2016GXNSFBA380215), Guangxi Young and Middle-aged Teacher Basic Ability Improvement Project (No. KY2016YB199), Guangxi Collaborative Innovation Center for Exploration of Hidden Nonferrous Metal Deposits and Development of New Materials Project (No. GXYSXTZX2017-II-5), and Guangxi Scholarship Fund of Guangxi Education Department.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Earth Sciences, Guilin University of Technology, Guilin, 541004, China

    Yu-zeng Lv, Hong-hua Wang & Jun-bo Gong

  2. Guangxi Key Laboratory of Hidden Metallic Ore Deposits Exploration, Guilin, 541004, China

    Yu-zeng Lv & Hong-hua Wang

Authors
  1. Yu-zeng Lv
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  2. Hong-hua Wang
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  3. Jun-bo Gong
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hong-hua Wang.

Additional information

Lv Yuzeng graduated with a PhD from the Institute of Applied Geophysics, Central South University, in 2008. He is now an Associate Professor at the College of Earth Sciences, Guilin University of Technology. His research interest is electromagnetic numerical simulation and inversion imaging. Email: Lyz@glut.edu.cn

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Lv, Yz., Wang, Hh. & Gong, Jb. Application of GPR reverse time migration in tunnel lining cavity imaging. Appl. Geophys. 17, 277–284 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11770-020-0815-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11770-020-0815-9

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