Abstract
In this paper, we present a numerical finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) simulation procedure developed to quantify the frequency-dependent ground penetrating radar (GPR) spectral responses occurring in four on-site scenarios involving concrete that is dry, half-saturated, saturated and chloride- contaminated. The responses are (1) numerically simulated by making use of the real and imaginary parts of complex permittivity derived from the GPR signal’s two-way travel time and rebar reflection amplitude, respectively; then (2) characterized using Nyquist and Bode plots, and (3) compared to the wavelets obtained from authentic concrete specimens. The characterization shows good correspondence with the well-established Debye’s models. Experimental validation shows that the simulated dispersion model is compatible with authentic concrete specimens when an optimal centre frequency is used. The method demonstrated in this paper can be used to convert GPR into a spectral analyser for predicting the on-site variability in material properties, the expected depth ranges of targets, and levels of attenuation and scattering before actual GPR survey.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data Availability
Not available.
References
Agilent: Basics of Measuring the Dielectric Properties of Materials, Application Notes. Agilent (2005)
Annan, A.P.: Ground Penetrating Radar Applications, Principles, Procedures. Sensors and Software, Mississauga (2004)
ASTM: ASTM D6432-11: Standard Guide for Using the Surface Ground Penetrating Radar Method for Subsurface Investigation. ASTM (2011)
Cassidy, N.J.: Ground Penetrating Radar: Theory and Applications, vol. 2, pp. 41–72. Elsevier Science, Amsterdam (2009)
Cole, K. S., Cole, R.H.: Dispersion and absorption in dielectrics I. Alternating current characteristics. J. Chem. Phys. 9(4), 341–351 (1941)
Daniels, D.J.: Ground Penetrating Radar, 2nd edn. Institution of Electrical Engineers, London (2004)
Debye, P.J.W.: Polar Molecules. Dover Publications, New York (1960)
Giannopoulos, A.: The Investigation of transmission-line matrix and finite-difference time-domain methods for the forward problem of ground probing radar. University of York, Thesis (1997)
Giannopoulos, A.: Modelling ground penetrating radar by gprmax. Constr. Build. Mater. 19(10), 755–762 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2005.06.007
Jol, H.M.: Ground Penetrating Radar: Theory and Applications. Elsevier, Amsterdam (2009)
Kane, Y.: Numerical solution of initial boundary value problems involving Maxwell’s equations in isotropic media. IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag. 14(3), 302–307 (1966). https://doi.org/10.1109/TAP.1966.1138693
Klinghoffer, O.: Techniques to Asess the Corrosion Activity of Steel Reinforced Concrete Structures, ASTM STP 1276, Materials and Corrosion, vol. 48. ASTM, West Conshohockem (1997). https://doi.org/10.1002/maco.19970481109
Knoll, M.D.: A petrophysical basis for ground-penetrating radar and very early time electromagnetics: electrical properties of sand-clay mixtures. University of British Columbia, Thesis (2005)
Lai, W.L., Kind, T., Wiggenhauser, H.: A study of concrete hydration and dielectric relaxation mechanism using ground penetrating radar and short-time Fourier transform. EURASIP J. Adv. Signal Process. 2010(1), 317216 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1155/2010/317216
Lai, W.L., Kind, T., Wiggenhauser, H.: Frequency-dependent dispersion of high-frequency ground penetrating radar wave in concrete. NDT & E Int. 44(3), 267–273 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ndteint.2010.12.004
Lai, W.L.W., Kind, T., Kruschwitz, S., Wöstmann, J., Wiggenhauser, H.: Spectral absorption of spatial and temporal ground penetrating radar signals by water in construction materials. NDT & E Int. 67, 55–63 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ndteint.2014.06.009
Narayanan, R.M., Hudson, S.G., Kumke, C.J.: Detection of rebar corrosion in bridge decks using statistical variance of radar reflected pulses. In: Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on Ground-Penetrating Radar, vol. 98, pp. 27–30 (1998)
Orazem, M.E., Tribollet, B.: Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy, 2nd edn. Wiley, Hoboken (2017)
Persico, R.: Introduction to Ground Penetrating Radar: Inverse Scattering and Data Processing. IEEE Press, Piscataway (2014)
Poley, J., Nooteboom, J., De Waal, P.: Use of VHF Dielectric Measurements for Borehole Formation Analysis, vol. 19. Society of Petrophysicists and Well-Log Analysts, London (1978)
Reynolds, J.M.: An Introduction to Applied and Environmental Geophysics. Wiley, New York (1997)
Rhim, H.C., Buyukozturk, O.: Electromagnetic properties of concrete at microwave frequency range. ACI Mater. J. 95(3) (1998)
Shang, J., Umana, J.: Dielectric constant and relaxation time of asphalt pavement materials. J. Infrastruct. Syst. 5(4), 135–142 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)1076-0342(1999)5:4(135)
Soutsos, M., Bungey, J., Millard, S., Shaw, M., Patterson, A.: Dielectric properties of concrete and their influence on radar testing. NDT & E Int. (UK) 34(6), 419–425 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1016/S0963-8695(01)00009-3
Von Hippel, A.: Dielectric Materials and Applications. Artech House, London (1954)
Warren, C., Antonis, G.: Guidance on GPR modelling (2019). http://docs.gprmax.com/en/latest/gprmodelling.html
Warren, C., Antonis, G., Giannakis, I.: gprmax: open source software to simulate electromagnetic wave propagation for ground penetrating radar. Comput. Phys. Commun. 209(C), 163–170 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpc.2016.08.020
Wong, T.P., Lai, W.L.W., Sham, J.F.C., Poon, C.S.: Hybrid non-destructive evaluation methods for characterizing chloride-induced corrosion in concrete. NDT & E Int. (2019). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ndteint.2019.05.008
Xie, F., Lai, W.W.L., Dérobert, X.: Gpr-based depth measurement of buried objects based on constrained least-square (CLS) fitting method of reflections. Measurement 168, 108330 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.measurement.2020.108330
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong University Grants Committee [Grant Numbers 15213215]. The authors would also like to thank the assistance from Mr. Wenchao He and Dr. Sonia Santos in data collection.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Code Availability
Not available.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Wong, P.Tw., Lai, W.Wl. Characterization of Complex Dielectric Permittivity of Concrete by GPR Numerical Simulation and Spectral Analysis. J Nondestruct Eval 41, 1 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10921-021-00836-z
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10921-021-00836-z