GPR attribute analysis for the detection of LNAPL contaminated soils

Abstract

Light non-aqueous phase liquids (LNAPL) are hydrocarbons, immiscible in water and less dense than water. This paper uses GPR attribute analysis to evaluate the LNAPL contaminated soils. A GPR experiment for LNAPL leakage in a sand box is set up in the laboratory. After GPR data processing, three types of attributes are calculated. The instantaneous amplitude attribute describes the LNAPL pollution range even though the difference of electromagnetic properties is small between the target and the surrounding media. The similarity attribute delineates the boundary of LNAPL contaminated area based on the variations of the media through calculating the similarity of the adjacent traces’ waveforms and amplitude. The energy attribute helps to determine the source point of LNAPL leakage in recent LNAPL leakages. We believe that the GPR attribute analysis has a great potential to improve the interpretation of the GPR detection at actual LNAPL contaminated sites.