Detection of underground utilities below NTU campus

• Main Author: Tan, Ying Cui
• Other Authors: Wu Wei (CEE)
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: Nanyang Technological University 2023
• Subjects: Engineering::Civil engineering
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/167353
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Underground utilities are necessary to provide public services. With underground utilities, it resolves the issue of limited land space. However, these utilities are placed under the surface which cannot be seen from the surface of ground. If the underground utilities are broken, they will cut off the supplies of electricity or water supplies. In a more serious extent, it could lead to cavity to form in the subsurface. With the lack of proper management, it has the possibility to cause damage to the underground structures which could pose a threat to the population. Therefore, regular detection of underground is necessary to prevent any damage to the soil structure and facilities. In this project, it focuses on seismic scattering method which uses seismic waves collected to analyze the condition of the underground. An experiment has been done outside of campus at a bus depot in Singapore. The experiment consists of two detection methods to detect underground conditions at the bus depot. One of the methods is the seismic scattering method which is used to obtain the image of subsurface with the use of software after inputting the data collected on site. A seismic recording system was used to collect signals at the location while a Seismic Scattering Profile (SSP) software was used to process the signals collected and produce the image of the subsurface profile. The other method is a geotechnical method which bore a hole to check on where the anomaly appears. This method provides credibility to the use of seismic scattering method in the project. This project aims to detect underground utilities within the NTU campus. With the experiment at the bus depot, the result could validate for the result of the experiment that was performed within the NTU campus. The location selected is on the slope which is opposite the Canteen 2 bus stop. With the validation from the experiment done in bus depot, the experiment within the NTU campus will be only using the seismic scattering method to obtain image of subsurface for detection of underground utilities.