USE OF A 3D GROUND-PENETRATING RADAR FOR DETECTION OF BURIED INERT EXPLOSIVE DEVICES.

A dangerous problem that many countries have to face is the existence of buried explosive devices, responsible for high numbers of civilian fatalities. Their detection and removal are therefore mandatory, which has led in recent years to the development of different techniques that can ensure safer and more efficient demining operations. Geophysical techniques have been employed, since allow ground search in a non-invasive, rapid and cost-effective way, with special interest being given to ground penetrating radar (GPR). In the current work, it was buried in a sandy soil and in a clayey soil (27m² each), one of two similar sets of different inert explosive devices. GPR profiles of the subsoil were obtained with a 3D-GPR system, being then processed with the ReflexW software. Three dimensional cubes of the two study sites were constructed for better target signal visualization. The preliminary results confirm the efficiency of this technique, since all buried inert explosive devices were detected in both soil types. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]