Case study - Use of 3D GPR technologies for utility mapping in Paris

Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) has become a very important tool for nondestructive underground exploration. In low-loss media, ground-penetrating radar is capable of producing high-resolution images of the shallow subsurface and underground utility. This case study shows a practical example of the usage of the 3D GPR technique in Paris. Due to the high level of complexity of underground conditions in urban environment, a series of tools from modeling to processing and interpretation was used to extract relevant information related to locating underground utility network. The radar dataset was processed and migrated with a seismic software package, and then analyzed for the presence of underground utilities. Assumptions made during the interpretation were checked with a model of the underground, for which Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) technique was used to perform a forward modeling, in order to confirm and correlate the results of the interpretation.