Evaluation of five electrode arrays in imaging subsurface shallow targets : a case study

Abstract EN

In this study, five electrode arrays in 2D imaging surveys were tested through synthetic model to determine the most successful array in imaging the subsurface shallow targets.

These arrays are Pole-pole, Pole-dipole, dipole-dipole, Wenner and Wenner-Schlumberger.

The numerical modeling was made through two shallow walls buried in clayey deposits.

The results showed that the dipole-dipole is the most suitable electrode array when both vertical and horizontal changes are present in the subsurface.

This study indicates that the WennerSchlumberger array might be a good compromise between the Wenner and the Schlumberger and not with the dipole-dipole arrays in areas where both types of geological structures are expected, due to the increase of depth function of Schlumberger array with depth, while it decreases rapidly with depth with the dipole-dipole array.

Therefore, it is recommended to use the dipole-dipole array for shallow investigations and to use Wenner-Schlumberger array in greater depths.