Analysis of Fine Building Structures Using Radar

Knowing the structure of a wall, ceiling or floor, as well as the location of enclosed hollows, cavities or pipes, is very beneficial for various applications. In this paper the potential of radar measurements for the analysis of building structures is outlined by the discussion of wall and floor measurements in an office building from the 1970s. These illustrate that with a suitable radar system it is possible to get information about the individual layers of a floor or wall and, that it is possible to detect and interpret non-visible structures inside of them. A measurement along a large inside wall, that appears to be constructed the same way for the entire corridor, shows that a different paneling, thickness of layers or material is used in different optically non-visible sections. For optimizing the energy consumption or investigating the status prior to any refurbishment, it can be very helpful to know detailed wall structure in order to apply suitable measures. As an interesting detail, a floor measurement shows that an optically non-visible cable canal is not laid as expected. For safety aspects, like in case of a fire or gas attack, it is very helpful to know possible propagation paths for the spread of smoke and gas within the building. For that additional reason, the real location and extent of cable ducts, cavities or hollows inside building structures is of high interest.