Applicability of a Backprojection Algorithm to Reconstruct Images of Subsurface Horizontal Planes for Laboratory Experiments in Electrical Resistance Tomography

This paper describes the use of a backprojection algorithm to reconstruct subsurface images of the electrical resistivity in horizontal planes parallel to the surface. The algorithm can be applied to detect buried objects such as tanks or pipes and possible leakages from them. Two imaging strategies are compared: juxtaposition of vertical planes, and 3D reconstruction from the sensitivity matrix corresponding to the entire volume whose surface is explored. The electrode arrays used for voltage measurement are the dipole–dipole array and a modified Schlumberger array. A personal computer controls current injection, electrode switching, and voltage detection. The system injects 1 kHz, 20 V peak-to-peak square waveforms, thus avoiding electrode polarization effects. Experimental laboratory measurements show that the algorithm detects localized objects such as an insulating sphere and a conductive cylinder immersed in water. Furthermore, covering half of the cylinder by a rubber sleeve to simulate a nonconductive leak, yields a distinct image for the leak. The backprojection algorithm does not need any regularization parameter and it is very fast in inverting the sensitivity matrix because it approximates the inverse matrix by its transposed. The dipole–dipole array usually yields a lower overall pixel error than the modified Schlumberger array but both allow the detection of simulated underground leaks.