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The effect of fracture aperture and filling material on GPR signal

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Abstract

Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) was used to locate fractures and distinguish fracture properties at the laboratory and field scales. Laboratory studies were performed to define the effects of fractures on the GPR signal. In the laboratory, a fracture between two blocks of crystalline rock was filled with water or air, and the aperture of the fracture was varied from 0.75 to 10 cm. Air-filled and water-filled fractures were successfully distinguished on the basis of GPR signal polarity changes. Moreover, it was possible to estimate the fracture aperture when it was wider than the vertical resolution of the antenna. For instance, the resolution of a 800-MHz antenna enables the detection of 1-cm-wide water-filled openings. Armed with knowledge of the signal behavior at the laboratory scale, the apertures and the filling materials of fractures were also estimated in uncontrolled field conditions. These field studies were carried out in a dimension stone quarry of migmatitic granodiorite located in Southern Finland.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to Docent Olavi Selonen at Åbo Akademi and Palin Granit Oy for providing the rock blocks. This study was financed by the Finnish Research Programme on Nuclear Waste Management and the Finnish Foundation for Technology Promotion.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Geological Survey of Finland, P.O. Box 69, 02151, Espoo, Finland

    M. Markovaara-Koivisto

  2. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Aalto University, P.O. Box 12100, 00076, Aalto, Finland

    T. Hokkanen & E. Huuskonen-Snicker

Authors
  1. M. Markovaara-Koivisto
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  2. T. Hokkanen
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  3. E. Huuskonen-Snicker
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Correspondence to M. Markovaara-Koivisto.

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Markovaara-Koivisto, M., Hokkanen, T. & Huuskonen-Snicker, E. The effect of fracture aperture and filling material on GPR signal. Bull Eng Geol Environ 73, 815–823 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10064-013-0566-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10064-013-0566-4

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