Borehole magnetics for the estimation of unknown foundation pile depth

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There is an increasing need for the estimation of foundation piles whose depths are unknown. Especially in repair and reinforcement works or in safety inspection and assessment to the big structures whose foundations are piles, the accurate information about the depth of foundation piles is one of the most important factors. A borehole magnetic tool has been developed and tested to meet this object. The fundamental base is that there usually exist many re-bars inside the foundation structure such as piles, and these re-bars are ferromagnetic materials which cause strong induced magnetic field comparable to the earth magnetic field. It utilizes flux-gate type magnetometer which measures 3-components of the magnetic field. Taking vertical derivatives of vertical component of the measured magnetic field, we can expect the error limit of estimating the depth of the pile end less than 20 cm in favorable condition. The maximum measurable distance is about 3 m to the pile from the borehole. The field data show that borehole magnetics is one of the most accurate, fast, and reliable methods for this object so far, as long as there is no magnetic materials such as deep located steel pipe or power cables close to the foundation piles.