Sciences in Cold and Arid Regions ›› 2017, Vol. 9 ›› Issue (3): 261-266.doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1226.2017.00261

• ARTICLES • Previous Articles    

Using attributes of electromagnetic waves to determine the water content and frost table in a permafrost area

ZhiChun Zhang1, YuPeng Shen2, Xiao Wang2, YaHu Tian2, JianKun Liu2, Bagdat Teltayev3   

  1. 1. Shen-Shuo Railway Branch, China Shenhua Energy Company Limited, Yulin, Shaanxi 719316, China;
    2. School of Civil Engineering, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, China;
    3. Kazakhstan Highway Research Institute, Almata, Kazakhstan
  • Received:2016-11-21 Revised:2016-12-21 Published:2018-11-23
  • Contact: Shen YuPeng, YuPeng Shen, Associate Professor of School of Civil Engineering, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, China. Tel: +86-10-51683594; E-mail: ypshen@bjtu.edu.cn E-mail:ypshen@bjtu.edu.cn
  • Supported by:
    This work was supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2015JBM064),the 49th Project Sponsored by the Scientific Research Foundation for the Returned Overseas Chinese Scholars infrastructure in State Education Ministry,and the research project entitled "The freezing injury evaluation of subgrade and remediation technology research in Shenchi-Shuozhou Railway"(No.2015-10),whose support is acknowledged.

Abstract: The thawing-melting of the permafrost damages the subground of highways on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. With the application of ground-penetrating-radar (GPR) technology, the maximum permafrost melting interface can be effectively distinctly differentiated and imaged. A hierarchical feature of the permafrost region is shown clearly on the imaging profile of GPR data. The complete ablation zone or part of it is displayed distinctly. In addition, the details of subsurface layers can be effectively characterized by GPR attribute-analysis technology. With the attribute calculation and filter, the instantaneous amplitude, instantaneous frequency, and relative wave impedance can be applied in a more efficient way to divide the complete ablation zone, part of the ablation and non-ablation interface. The relative distribution of water content in a seasonally thawing permafrost region can be obtained through a comprehensive GPR attribute analysis.

Key words: permafrost thawing, ground-penetrating-radar, geophysical attribute, relative water content

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