GPR image analysis for corrosion mapping in concrete slabs

The ground penetrating radar (GPR) has been considered for a long time as a potential nondestructive evaluation (NDE) technique for assessing condition of concrete slabs. Unfortunately, despite many advancements with respect to the hardware configuration, this technology is still of limited practice due to the limitation of current data analysis methods. Recently, a new data evaluation approach has been proposed. This approach is based on visual analysis of GPR profiles in order to interpret and map the condition of concrete slabs. Since the description of this method is not well documented and its accuracy has not been verified, the main aim of current research is to study and investigate these topics. While the research is on-going, this paper reports its initial result. Specifically, the paper presents a detailed procedure to assess and map GPR data of concrete slabs using image analysis. In addition, the limitations of current GPR data evaluation methods are also discussed.