A shear wave ground surface vibration technique for the detection of buried pipes

•Shear wave vibration detection of buried pipes•Stacking method to generate a cross-sectional image of the ground•Measurements made at two live test sites•Plastic mains and cast iron service pipes were detected.•Pre-whitening of signals and use of additional voltage reference improve results.

A major UK initiative, entitled ‘Mapping the Underworld’ aims to develop and prove the efficacy of a multi-sensor device for accurate remote buried utility service detection, location and, where possible, identification. One of the technologies to be incorporated in the device is low-frequency vibro-acoustics; the application of this technology for detecting buried infrastructure, in particular pipes, is currently being investigated. Here, a shear wave ground vibration technique for detecting buried pipes is described. For this technique, shear waves are generated at the ground surface, and the resulting ground surface vibrations measured. Time-extended signals are employed to generate the illuminating wave. Generalized cross-correlation functions between the measured ground velocities and a reference measurement adjacent to the excitation are calculated and summed using a stacking method to generate a cross-sectional image of the ground. To mitigate the effects of other potential sources of vibration in the vicinity, the excitation signal can be used as an additional reference when calculating the cross-correlation functions. Measurements have been made at two live test sites to detect a range of buried pipes. Successful detection of the pipes was achieved, with the use of the additional reference signal proving beneficial in the noisier of the two environments.