About Portuguese experience in GPR road inspections
A. Costa
Geo NDT
Vila do Conde, Portugal
geo-ndt@geo-ndt.pt
 as a tool to support economical development; to allow equal
Abstract—This paper presents a perspective of the actual
panorama in Portugal of GPR related with road pavements
inspections, through the experience of one of the operating
companies in this field. First steps dealing with GPR inspections;
demands of equipment and software upgrades; doubts and results
concern to GPR inspections, in the perspective of a engineer
geologist.
Index Terms— GPR, road, pavement, inspection.
I. INTRODUCTION
With a significant experience in roads (geotechnics and
pavements), related with project, construction, fiscalisation
and maintenance, the perspective to use GPR in road
inspections becomes 3 years ago. The contact with the work
and results obtained by companies and organizations that were
dealing with this method, especially in Finland [1]-[2] and
U.S.A.[3]-[4]-[5], increased our interest, motivates research
and oriented the first field experiences. Final decision was
supported by the favorable panorama that exists in Portugal to
commercial services related with GPR road inspections.
II. GPR ROAD INSPECTION IN PORTUGAL
The first publication related to the application in Portugal of
GPR method in road inspections [6], by researchers of
Laboratório Nacional de Engenharia Civil (LNEC), it is
related with the detection of carsic holes beneath the highway
A1-Torres Novas/Fátima, with ground coupled antennas of 50
and 200 MHz of central frequency. Nowadays, LNEC has
GPR equipment to different kind of applications, and also to
road inspections at “high-speed” with air coupled antennas,
and still research and promote this method as can be showed
by recent works [7]-[8] dedicated to non destructive methods
in road inspections.
However the good results obtained and the experience of
more than a decade, and even when GPR becomes gradually
used in archeology, utilities, concrete structures,
geotechnics,… the use of this technology applied to road
pavements didn’t grow as could be expected. Inclusive, the
recent interest about GPR railroad inspection [9] – [10], allow
us to think that, nowadays, the focus it is pointed out to other
objects than roads.
III. PORTUGUESE ROADS
The Portuguese highways network is very recent, and is still
going on construction. In the last 30 years, successive
Governments trough Public Administration and private
companies, focus the development of a modern road network
opportunities between interior zones of the country and the
coastline ones, and to reduce the high levels of road
sinistrality. The importance of road construction, and other
sectors of activities related with roads, becomes very effective
in national economy.
Even during 2008, financing, design, building and operating
(FDBO) contracts of several hundreds of kilometers of roads
have been launched in Portugal. Significant part of these
contracts is related with beneficiation of old roads. However
some of the information about this old roads it is integrated in
a national road data base, there is a huge need of information
to support design decisions related with the reinforcement of
these pavements. Without any doubts, GPR have here a role to
play.
IV. GPR EQUIPMENT
A. Initial configuration
First field experiments were done along 6 km of paving
construction, with a very simple configuration of equipment:
SIR20 equipped with odometer and 2GHz air launched
antenna (Fig. 1). Using default configuration of the GPR
system [11], have been achieved proper similitude between
GPR thickness layers evaluation, and “ground truth”
supported by coring control quality [12].
In successive experiments, in longer survey inspections, the
contact with some difficulties lead us to the need of equipment
upgrade and changes in methodology, because of four major
aspects:
- 2GHz antenna has not always the sufficient depth
penetration to inspect the pavement until the bottom;
- Location of data it is of major importance. Accurate
calibration of odometer to, for instance, a 30 km
survey it is not as simple as that. When comparing data
of different tests (FWD, IRI, …) located with different
odometers, distances varies, what can have a big
significance and can creates many difficulties and
doubts;
Fig. 1 – Configuration of equipment initially used.
- Visual memory of the places, important aspect to data
interpretation, after few days of field work with several
hundreds of kilometers inspected, it is not there
anymore when we get back to the office, and markers
in GPR data supported by written notes are always
insufficient;
- “Ground Truth” is a need in GPR road inspections and
when we are running against time (almost always), it is
important to have that information on time and from a
location 100% correct.
B. Equipment upgrade
The presented initial difficulties needed a response in two
vectors: work methodology and equipment/software.
- Antennas – in road pavement inspections, air launched
antennas have advantages in practical operational
aspects and in the information obtained through the
surface reflection data. However, lower central
frequency ground coupled antennas are important to
reach foundation of the pavements. Final decision, was
about a air launched antenna of 1GHz central
frequency, and considers the posterior acquisition of a
ground coupled 400MHz antenna;
- Location – the option to acquired geographical
coordinates through a GPS, lead to some questions
about the equipment we should use. After some
research, it seems a good option, a 12 channels
receiver with external antenna, with sub meter
differential accuracy through a service of differential
GPS broadcast system, and 20Hz of position output
data. However the best accuracy GPS equipment can
give, odometer precision and markers in GPR data, are
always of first importance. Simultaneously, digital
video images also help to this location efforts;
- Digital video – the interpretation of GPR data greatly
benefits from the possibility of visualize the surface of
the pavement and surrounding environment. Record
video images simultaneously from two cameras can
easily be done with significant advantage during GPR
data interpretation;
- “Ground truth” –this information it is sufficiently
important and easily to acquired to justified have
proper means to collect it. Decide in the proper
moment about core location and be sure about the
position where it has been collected, are sufficient
reasons to consider have this tool. Medium capacity
equipment, considering the most frequent targets we
have under our interest, can be a good choice.
The integration of all this data is relevant to road analysis
(Fig. 2).
C. Software and method
High-speed GPR road survey has the capability to acquire
high quantities of good data in little time. As well, if the
system is not working properly, in the very same few time,
Fig.2. Data acquisition and integration
it produces high quantities of rubbish. Usually, small problems
in field became major ones, later at office. So, it becomes a
need to have rigorous data acquisition, linked and
synchronized through specific software.
The commercial solutions to these questions are quite few.
RoadDoctor, with Camlink, it is one of the most familiar
solutions. Specifically oriented to road inspections, it becomes
the solution to our needs.
The integration of the presented equipment working
simultaneously, through specific software of data acquisition
(Radan from GSSI and Camlink of RoadDoctor from
RoadScanners), gives the capability of inspection
simultaneously along two lines in the same lane (Fig. 3), at
highway speed (more than 50 km/h), with minor efforts related
to vehicle signalization and no need of other road safety
demands.
RoadDoctor allows processing GPR data; integration of
different data relevant to GPR interpretation and road
analysis; synchronized visualization of data, map location and
video images (Fig. 4); and output different kinds of reports.
Very important to those who are not GPR specialists, is the
possibility to have GPR technical assistance/consultancy. In
this situation, that role belongs to RoadScanners.
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Fig. 3 – Some possible configurations of the antennas

Fig. 4 – RoadDoctor screen with (a) video image; (b) map location; (c)
elevation of longitudinal profile with GPR data; (d) interpretated layer in
GPR data; (e) dielectrical variations of the first two layers.
V. SOME GPR INSPECTION CASES
The recent experience working with GPR related to roads,
have been achieved in contact with different kind of services,
along several hundreds of kilometers of inspected roads.
A. Quality control
GPR inspections during construction have been important
to confirm the representativity of core sampling and detect
particular feature not reflected in core results.
B. Quality assurance
Post-construction and before open to traffic, recent
constructed roads, can be object of GPR inspections. So
important as thickness evaluation or homogeneous
composition of HMA, can be the registration of road
conditions in moment zero, to compare with later GPR
surveys to pavement condition monitoring.
C. Network management
In the aim of the presentation of a proposal to concession to
private companies of part of the national road network,
because of the need to know structure thickness and to identify
different structural sections along some hundreds of
kilometers of roads open to traffic, GPR inspection can play
an essential role.
D. Distress evaluation and forensic disputes
This demand needs different kinds of data related to road
condition, like FWD, IRI or GPR. Preferentially, with
different surveys of the same kind of data along time, to
identify the evolution of the situation. In what concerns to
GPR, usually these are not the easiest tasks, where dielectrical
Fig. 5 – Location of principal inspected roads
characteristics of materials need to be considered to evaluate
HMA stripping or air voids, or changes in moisture in granular
bases. Doubts about the reasons of road pathologies, almost
every times have correspondence in responsibilities, and in
that situations, the question that matters is who pays the bill?
VI. CONCLUSIONS
After some first experiments, the GPR methodology used to
road inspections became supported by, what we consider
adequate equipment and software.
A diversity of works has already been made, in terms that
confirms the viability of conducting commercial services in
this field.
The participations already occurred in previous works, and
in some others still on going, will allow to present during 2009
numerical analysis of GPR data versus parameters achieved
trough other methodologies, and so, more sustainable
conclusions about GPR results obtained.
VII. ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The author thanks Professor António Gomes Correia of
Universidade do Minho, his idea and support to research GPR
applied to road inspections, as well to Dr Timo Saarenketo
and Drª Anja Pälli, for their answer to all the questions.
REFERENCES
[1] T. Saarenketo, “Road Analysis, an Advanced Integrated Survey Method
for Road Condition Evaluation. International Workshop” on Modelling
and Advanced Testing for Unbound and Granular Materials. Ed. A
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