INTRODUCTION OF A GROUND PENETRATING RADAR SYSTEM FOR INVESTIGATIONS ON CONCRETE STRUCTURES

Today, Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) is a wide spread method for the investigation of building ground and engineering structures. The method allows for a rapid scanning of even long profiles and after some standard data processing, results can be evaluated on-site. Shallow investigations can be performed with high resolution, but an increasing target depth is at cost of resolution because of the attenuation of high frequencies. This year, the Institute of Construction Materials acquired a GSSI SIR-2 GPR system. Antennas with a centre frequency of 500, 900 and 1600 MHz are well-suited for various applications in civil engineering. In the following, some basic principles, the radar system and first measurements are presented.