INVESTIGADORES
OSELLA Ana Maria
artículos
Título:
Small-loop electromagnetic induction for environmental studies at industrial plants
Autor/es:
MARTINELLI, PATRICIA; OSELLA, ANA
Revista:
JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICS AND ENGINEERING
Editorial:
IOP PUBLISHING LTD
Referencias:
Año: 2010 vol. 7 p. 91 - 104
ISSN:
1742-2132
Resumen:
The focus of this study is to analyse the reliability of using small-loop frequency-domainelectromagnetic induction systems for characterizing buried storage tanks and pipes atindustrial plants. As examples, we selected two areas of a chemical plant, one locatedoutdoors and other inside a room of reduced dimensions. We collected data employingdifferent system orientations and acquisition directions, in order to compare the influence ofenvironmental noise and neighbouring structures on each case. We found that the presence ofa metallic gate or other metallic stuff in a neighbouring wall introduces strong distortions inthe responses obtained near these objects. The responses decrease when the coils are coplanarwith the wall and increase when they are perpendicular to it. Noise levels were higher for thedata acquired indoors, but even in this case, we could enhance the signal-to-noise ratios up tovery acceptable values by applying a novel spatial filtering technique. This improved thevisualization of the anomalies associated with the targets. Finally, we generated pseudo 3Delectrical models of the subsoil, by combining the results of the 1D inversions of the filtereddata corresponding to the configuration that best evidenced the structures buried on eachsector. In both areas, we obtained quite good approximate characterizations of the geometry,conductivity and depth of the detected tanks and pipes, as was later confirmed duringremediation works. Remarkably, the model obtained for the area located indoors had enoughresolution as to define the existence of two separate, adjacent tanks.