Diameter Estimation of Cylindrical Metal Bar Using Wideband Dual-Polarized Ground-Penetrating Radar

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel reflection power-based method using wideband dual-polarized GPR to accurately estimate the diameter of small subsurface metal bars, overcoming resolution limits of traditional reflection pattern methods.

Contribution

The paper presents a new approach that relates the maximum reflected signal power to bar diameter, enabling precise sizing with simple, real-time operation.

Findings

Achieves less than 10% error in diameter estimation

Effective across various GPR frequencies and subsurface conditions

Demonstrates high accuracy and real-time applicability

Abstract

Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) has been an effective technology for locating metal bars in civil engineering structures. However, the accurate sizing of subsurface metal bars of small diameters remains a challenging problem for the existing reflection pattern-based method due to the limited resolution of GPR. To address the issue, we propose a reflection power-based method by exploring the relationship between the bar diameter and the maximum power of the bar reflected signal obtained by a wideband dual-polarized GPR, which circumvents the resolution limit of the existing pattern-based method. In the proposed method, the theoretical relationship between the bar diameter and the power ratio of the bar reflected signals acquired by perpendicular and parallel polarized antennas is established via the inherent scattering width of the metal bar and the wideband spectrum of the bar reflected signal. Based on the theoretical relationship, the bar diameter can be estimated using the obtained power ratio in a GPR survey. Simulations and experiments have been conducted with different GPR frequency spectra, subsurface mediums, and metal bars of various diameters and depths to demonstrate the efficacy of the method. Experimental results show that the method achieves high sizing accuracy with errors of less than 10% in different scenarios. With its simple operation and high accuracy, the method can be implemented in real-time in situ examination of subsurface metal bars.