Feasibility of ground-penetrating radar for use at manufactured gas plant sites. Final report

The average cost of soil and groundwater remediation at former manufactured gas plant (MGP) sites could range in the millions of dollars per site. Accurate delineation of subsurface areas containing coal tar contamination is important in controlling these costs and limiting future liabilities. Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) mapping has the potential to be used to guide sampling locations and focus site investigations in areas with the heaviest contamination. Simulations performed under this project demonstrated that advanced imaging techniques applied to bistatic GPR data can produce images (shapes and electrical properties) of low-contrast targets such as hydrocarbons where traditional monostatic GPR data cannot.