3D Representation of (Buried) Water Supply Elements using Pre-Processed GPR Images

In this paper, a ground penetrating radar (GPR) is used as a non-destructive method to assess the buried elements of water supply systems (WSSs). The aim is the detection of various pipe materials (such as plastic and metallic, among others), and the identification of other important aspects (e.g. water leakage). This work seeks to use the visualization advantages of the subsoil characteristics provided by pre-processed GPR images. These features, which are represented as anomalies into the images, are extracted and merged to generate 3D models. The 3D representations obtained facilitate elucidation by personnel non-highly skilful in the interpretation of data from non-destructive techniques. The work is performed on GPR images of WSS pipes taken from strategic locations of urban environments. The goal is to promote the use of these technologies in the WSSs intended to generate relevant information that allows the adequate and dynamic technical management of these systems. The results and analyses are presented in this paper.