skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Evaluation of a Prototype Continuous-Wave, Borehole, Ground-Penetrating Radar

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/801381· OSTI ID:801381

Borehole radar systems can provide essential subsurface structural information for environmental evaluation, geotechnical analysis, or energy exploration. Sandia developed a prototype continuous-wave Borehole Radar (BHR) in 1996, and development of a practical tool has been continuing at a Russian institute under a Sandia contract. The BHR field experiments, which were planned for the summer of 2001 in Russia, provided a unique opportunity to evaluate the latest Sandia algorithms with actual field data. A new three-dimensional code was developed to enable the analysis of BHR data on modest-sized desktop workstations. The code is based on the staggered grid, finite difference technique, and eliminates 55% of the massive storage associated with solving the system of finite-difference linear equations. The code was used to forward-model the Russian site geometry and placement of artificial targets to anticipate any problems that might arise when the data was received. Technical software and equipment problems in the Russian field tests, conducted in August 2001, invalidated all but one of the data sets. However, more field tests with improved equipment and software are planned for 2002, and analysis of that data will be presented in a future report.

Research Organization:
Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Sandia National Lab. (SNL-CA), Livermore, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
US Department of Energy (US)
DOE Contract Number:
AC04-94AL85000
OSTI ID:
801381
Report Number(s):
SAND2002-2062; TRN: US200223%%140
Resource Relation:
Other Information: PBD: 1 Jul 2002
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English