INTEGRATED CONE PENETRATION AND GROUND PENETRATING RADAR TECHNOLOGIES

A SIGNIFICANT COST COMPONENT IN MANY CIVIL CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS IS GEOTECHNICAL EXPLORATION. THE RESEARCH PROPOSEDFOCUSES ON DEVELOPMENT OF A GEOTECHNICAL EXPLORATION SYSTEM THAT WOULD HAVE CAPABILITIES NOT FOUND IN ANY CURRENTLY AVAILABLE SYSTEM. THE SYSTEM UNDER CONSIDERATION IS A COMBINATION OF TWO KNOWN TECHNOLOGIES, ELECTRIC CONE PENETRATION TESTING (ECPT), AND GROUND PENETRATING RADAR (GPR). ECPT, WHICH INVOLVES FORCING AN INSTRUMENTED CONE INTO THE GROUND, IS AN ECONOMICAL TECHNIQUE FOR DETERMINATION OF IN SITU PROPERTIES OF SOFT GEOLOGIC MATERIALS, BUT IS ONLY APPLICABLE TO THE DEPTH OF THE FIRST HARD LAYER. GPR IMAGING TECHNIQUES HAVE BEEN USED TO "LOOK"INTO THE GROUND, BUT EXISTING DEVICES MUST OPERATE FROM THE SURFACE OR BE LOWERED DOWN EXPENSIVE BOREHOLES. THE PROPOSED NEW DEVICE WOULD CONSIST OF A CONE PENETROMETER WITH A RADAR ANTENNA MOUNTED ON THE PUSH ROD, DIRECTLY ABOVEIT, THUS CREATING MEANS OF INVESTIGATING SUBSURFACE ROCK ANDEXISTING SUBSURFACE STRUCTURES AT A MUCH LOWER COST AND WITHBETTER PRECISION THAN IS POSSIBLE WITH EXISTING TECHNIQUES.