When sewer pipes crack and leak, the surrounding ground becomes saturated and soil can migrate into the pipe and leave behind a void. Eventually this void can expand until it undermines the pavement or other structures forming a sinkhole. The same ground penetrating radar technology being used by geophysicists to perform subsurface characterization and by the military to detect roadside bombs in being adapted to detect these voids before they reach the surface. Researchers at Louisiana Tech University are developing a robot to traverse sewer pipes and scan around the pipe for potential voids using the GPR. The research is being performed with $3M from NIST and $3.2M from Cues, Inc. a Louisiana sewer inspection company. Additional trials are slated to take place this month. [Source: NOLA.com. Image: AP File Photo/Mark Was via dailyreporter.com]
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Dozens of Sinkholes in Plant City, Florida after Farmers Pump Extra Water Trying to Protect Crops from Bitter Cold
In early January of this year, Florida experienced some unusually cold temperatures that forced Plant City area strawberry farmers to pump extra groundwater to try to protect their crops. Over the course of about 11 days, the groundwater table in areas of Plant City was lowered by as much as 60-ft.
Almost immediately as many as 80 sinkholes began opening up around that region. Including ones that jeopardized a 500,000-gallon water tower, several that shut down an elementary school and numerous ones that shut down roads and highways and affected individual property owners. Around 20 local homeowners were left homeless after sinkholes left their house uninhabitable. For comparison, based on data from Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s Sinkhole Database for the period of 1998 to 2008 (the last year for which data is available), 77 sinkholes were reported to have opened up in Polk, Pasco and Hillsborough counties combined.
Local officials are seeking help from the State and FEMA to cover the estimated $3 million in damages. That figure is double what Plant City received from FEMA for the particularly bad 2004 hurricane season. And that dollar amount does not include what individual homeowners and property owners will be seeking from their insurance carriers. (Photos by Tampa Bay Online)
Read on for maps of Plant City sinkhole locations and more information.
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Using the most recent improvements, now we will see quite a few useful purposes for ground penetrating radar and these multi-purpose radar units are actually becoming made and developed by many firms worldwide.
Thanks.
Concrete xray