• A Review on Past Cases of Self-potential Surveys for Dikes and Embankments Considering Streaming Potential
  • Seo Young Song1·AHyun Cho1·Peter K. Kang2·Myung Jin Nam1,3*

  • 1Department of Energy and Mineral Resources Engineering, Sejong University, South Korea
    2Department of Earth and Envirionmental Sciences, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
    3Department of Energy Resources and Geosystems Engineering, Sejong University, South Korea

  • 흐름 전위 특성을 고려한 수리시설물에서의 자연 전위 탐사 사례 고찰
  • 송서영1·조아현1·강경철2·남명진1,3*

  • 1세종대학교 에너지자원공학과
    2University of Minnesota
    3세종대학교 지구자원시스템공학과

  • This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Self-potential (SP) surveys measure naturally occurring differences in electrical potential in the absence of artificial sources and have been applied to various fields since the first application in mineral explorations. Among various causes of SP occurrences, streaming potential is generated by the flow of groundwater, and makes SP surveys suitable for the exploration of groundwater table fluctuation, fractures, sinkholes and landslide occurrences. Recently, there has been many studies that applied SP surveys to monitor water leakage through dikes and embankments. In this review paper, we first review the characteristics and theoretical backgrounds of streaming potential in saturated or unsaturated porous media to introduce it in the embankment among various application field. After the review of the background theory, we review the past cases of field SP surveys on dikes and embankments and also the characteristics of field streaming potential data in the surveys. Further, by analyzing past studies of qualitative as well as quantitative interpretation of SP survey data, we show the possibility of quantitative interpretation of streaming potential data obtained on dikes and embankments. Consequently, it is hope that this review paper helps researches on SP surveys on dikes and embankments, and provides basis for interpretation methods of the SP data to identify leaked area and further leakage rate (or permeability).


Keywords: self-potential, streaming potential, embankment, dike, leakage, monitoring

This Article

  • 2021; 26(6): 1-17

    Published on Dec 31, 2021

  • 10.7857/JSGE.2021.26.6.001
  • Received on Oct 6, 2021
  • Revised on Oct 13, 2021
  • Accepted on Nov 29, 2021

Correspondence to

  • Myung Jin Nam
  • 1Department of Energy and Mineral Resources Engineering, Sejong University, South Korea
    3Department of Energy Resources and Geosystems Engineering, Sejong University, South Korea

  • E-mail: nmj1203@sejong.ac.kr