Product category:
Environmental sensors and sampling systems
News Release from: Ashtead Technology | Subject: GPR radar
Edited by the Processingtalk Editorial
Team on 12 July 2006
Ground radar utility locator added to
hire fleet
Ashtead Technology Rentals has added Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) to its ever-widening fleet of rental instruments, and reports on two successful applications
Ashtead Technology Rentals has added Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) to its ever-widening fleet of rental instruments General Manager James Carlyle says "GPR instruments are well suited to the rental option for a number of reasons
This article was originally published on Processingtalk on 3 Sep 2008 at 8.00am (UK)
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Firstly, they are expensive to purchase so a short-term hire makes strong financial sense.
Secondly, as with all our instruments, we have invested in equipment that uses the very latest technology.
Whilst GPR is mainly used for non-intrusive ground investigations, it is also a useful tool for testing concrete materials, highways and even allows snow/ice thickness measurements".
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A GPR transmits radio signals into the material being tested and measures the reflected signals.
Any material with different electrical properties to the 'host material' will reflect differently and the instrument records this difference and translates the data into a visual representation on the unit's shockproof TFT monitor.
Pipes, conduits, metallic objects, plastics, concrete, ceramics, asphalt composites and voids can be clearly located using this technique and as such GPR finds frequent application in work that necessitates the precise identification of utility location.
A selection of antennas is available with the unit so that users can select an appropriate depth range of up to 5 metres.
Ashtead do also offer RF pipe and cable locators, which are lower in cost, but depend on an electrical current in the target pipe or cable.
As such, they are ideal for the location of known 'live' utilities.
GPR is therefore employed in the following applications.
* Plastic gas pipes.
* Ductile iron or plastic water pipes.
* Plastic or ACP sewer pipes.
* Telecom fibre w/o tracer.
* Lost duct banks or vaults.
* Distribution heating / cooling.
Ewan Thomas, a Partner at ground investigation consultants Geotechnology in Neath, recently hired a GPR system from Ashtead Technology Rentals in order to search for an underground leat (artificial freshwater conduit) originally created by Sir Francis Drake to take water from Dartmoor to Plymouth.
Ewan reports that the equipment was "extremely easy to use and generated a very clear image".
However, ironically, his staff located a manhole for the leat, so on reflection Ewan was pleased that he had chosen to hire rather than purchase the equipment! Another Ashtead customer, Bob Kemp from Seismic Environmental Services in Hampshire, recently used GPR from Ashtead for a ground stability investigation prior to the location and construction of cranes on-site.
The study revealed a long-forgotten cellar beneath the planned location of the crane and, looking back Bob Kemp says "I have used this type of technology since the early 90's - and having used the 'Easy Locator' from Ashtead I was astonished at how far the technology has advanced in recent years - this device was extremely easy to use and produced incredibly clear images".
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