Automatic Detection of Water Inside Concrete Slabs Using Ground Penetrating Radar

Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) is generally used as a non-destructive method of inspection for structures and for finding defects in concrete slabs. In this paper, GPR is used in the detection of water inside the cavities of concrete hollow core slabs. We propose an algorithm that determines the water level inside the concrete slab by analyzing the time delays of the reflections originating from inside the cavity. The algorithm is based on utilizing prior knowledge about the geometry of the hollow core slab. The presence of water was successfully detected and an estimate for the height of the water surface was obtained with a GPR system operating with a central frequency of 2.7 GHz. Based on the experiments, the proposed method holds promise in providing a robust and accurate method for the detection of water inside the concrete slabs. Results, possible future research and analysis of the feasibility of GPR systems in water detection are presented and discussed.