Abstract
Characterization of subsurface soil is essential for foundation design of important civil engineering structures. In conventional geotechnical investigation, the soil profiling and their characterization are done by collecting samples from the field either through open pit sampling or through boring and then performing laboratory test for their classification and determination of strength and compressibility characteristics. In-situ methods like standard penetration test (SPT), cone penetration test, e.g., static (SCPT) and dynamic (DCPT), pressure meter test (PMT), and dilatometer test (DMT) are also available. But these methods are time consuming and costly. If vast tracts are to be investigated for preliminary exploration, then geophysical methods can aid to collect information about the subsoil conditions. Geophysical methods allow to measure physical properties like electrical resistivity, seismic wave velocity, electrical permittivity, magnetic intensity, etc. These observations can be used for surveying large tracts or ancient structures composed of dissimilar materials. Apart from these, some problems that vex the civil engineers is significant increase in the permeability of desiccated soils due to cracks in these soils due to shrinkage. Such a situation may lead to the progressive failure in flood embankments. Geophysical methods have great potential to aid archeological investigation in identifying archeological features in unexcavated areas. Electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) is very commonly applied in such studies because of its adaptability in identifying walls, cavities, etc., at different depths. The paper pertains to the potential of application of ERT in geotechnical and archeological investigation providing an overview and its use in subsoil profiling and detection of foundation details of old structures. The power of the method in identifying the hidden features of buried objects and subsurface profiling has been demonstrated with examples.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Kunetz, G.: Principles of Direct Current Resistivity Prospecting, p. 103. GebruderBorntraeger, Berlin (1966)
Barker, R.D.: The offset system of electrical resistivity sounding and its use with multicore cable. Geophys. Prosp. 29, 128–143 (1981)
Loke, M.H., Lane, J.W.: Inversion of data from electrical imaging surveys in water-covered areas. In: ASEG, 17th Geophysical Conference and Exhibition, Sydney (2004)
Ganiyu, S.A., Olurin, O.T., ladunjoye, M.A., Badmus, B.S.: Investigation of soil moisture content over a cultivated farmland in Abeokuta Nigeria using Electrical Resistivity Methods and Soil Analysis (2006)
Constantin, P., Kurosch, T. Michaet, K., Reinhand, S.: Testing the effectiveness of an inverse Wenner-Schlumberger array for geoelectrical Karst void reconnaissance on the SwabianAlb high plain. New Line Wendlingen –Ulm, Southwestern Germany, Engineering Geology (2018)
Zhou, W., Beck, B.F., Adams, A.L.: Effective electrode array in mapping karst hazards in electrical resistivity tomography. Environ. Geol. 42, 922–928 (2002)
Abu-Zeid, N., Botteon, D., Cocco, G., Santarato: Non-Invasive Characterization of Ancient Foundations in Venice Using the Electrical Resistivity Imaging Technique, NDT&E International 39, pp. 67–75 (2006)
Loke,M.H.: Tutorial: 2-D and 3-D electrical imaging surveys Copyright (1996–2004)
Sudha, K., Israil, M., Mittal, S., Rai, S.: Soil Characterization using electrical resistivity tomography and geotechnical investigation. J. Appl. Geophys., 76–79 (2009)
Acknowledgements
Authors are thankful to Head, Department of Civil Engineering to provide the infrastructures to complete this work which is the part of M. Tech. Dissertation of Mr. Deepak Sagar.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2021 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this paper
Cite this paper
Sagar, D., Dwivedi, S.B., Basudhar, P.K. (2021). Electrical Resistivity Tomography in Geotechnical Engineering Applications. In: Patel, S., Solanki, C.H., Reddy, K.R., Shukla, S.K. (eds) Proceedings of the Indian Geotechnical Conference 2019. Lecture Notes in Civil Engineering, vol 133. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-6346-5_14
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-6346-5_14
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-33-6345-8
Online ISBN: 978-981-33-6346-5
eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)