DETERMINING THE CONDITION OF A CULVERT BASED ON THE RESULTS OF GROUND PENETRATING RADAR PROBING

The article presents information on the conducted ground penetrating radar studies of a culvert located on a road. The purpose of the study is to establish the current state of the culvert. Current regulatory documents oblige road services to conduct a survey of culverts in order to assess their current condition and draw a conclusion about the possibility of using this pipe in the future. The purpose of the survey of reinforced concrete, concrete and stone is to identify the presence of cracks, concrete chips, places with insufficient thickness of the protective layer of concrete, traces of soaking in the joints of the links, wet spots on concrete surfaces and other defects. During the survey, measurements are also made of the gaps in the joints between the pipe links, mutual vertical deformations of the links, and the identification of voids behind the pipe walls. Measurements were carried out along the pipe axis using ground penetrating radar equipment, in the forward and reverse directions. For each measurement, a corresponding diagram was drawn up and photo recording was carried out. After conducting ground penetrating radar probing, a ground penetrating radar profile consisting of 367 signals was obtained. The obtained profile must be processed in a specialized program. The processing consists of several stages, the processing sequence is regulated by the technology of conducting ground penetrating radar research. After processing the radargram, a quantitative assessment of the current state of the culvert was obtained. The following results were established on the resulting radargram: violation of the integrity of the structure, i.e. traces of waterlogging in the joints of the pipe links; destruction of the integrity of the culvert links, increased moisture content of the soil of the roadbed above the pipe. The obtained results of ground penetrating radar probing are the initial data for developing a project for repairing the culvert.