Using the Ground Penetrating Radar Technique by Applied Engineering Geophysics to Identify Weak Areas at a Location in Mosul, Iraq: A Case Study

A geophysical survey was carried out on the building site in Mosul city. The ground penetrating radar method was applied in this survey for soil conductivity and layering testing. This study's goal is to use a ground penetrating radar survey to find near-surface features, buried bodies, walls, fill material, collapse, and geological features like joints, fractures, cavities, voids, weak zones, and collapse structures in the subsurface, as well as sediment materials within the building's foundation site. Forty-eight profiles were examined utilizing two antennas operating at 160 and 450 MHz, system type mala, GX. The findings reveal many subsurface attributes in the surveyed region: weakness, fill materials, collapse, and creep, suggesting a weak zone reaching a depth of 5 meters. These zones spread in the area of a building site at a depth of around 5 m beneath the foundation, reflecting on the building, causing the erosion of the soil and the cause to collapse. Consequently, the areas of weakness were concentrated on the outer walls of the structure, especially those in which cracks spread in their walls.