Electrical Resistivity Tomography Application for Buried Foundation Investigations: Insights and Review

Abstract

Maintenance of existing structures and development or reuse of brownfield sites need to determine buried foundations, in terms of location and dimensions, as accurately as possible. Geophysical methods provide an indirect way to look in the ground and provide information about the subsurface that the traditional methods might be unable to. In particular, the electrical resistivity method has been performed in the context of buried foundation surveys. This review spots the light on the main results obtained from utilizing the electrical resistivity method and the most affecting parameters that can influence the obtained resistivity models, and also, focuses on published case studies to merge their findings to understand the interaction among the method, the foundation and the hosting background for buried foundations surveys. The case studies mentioned in this review show the resistivity method success and highlight the most important parameters that can control the method’s applicability and data interpretation. The integration of the geophysical-traditional methods has appreciable potential for more accurate findings.