Water tunnels in mountain areas: Assessing the erosional activity with GPR

Hydrogeological risk assessment regarding mountain rivers (both alpine and pre-alpine) must entail careful geological and hydraulic analyses about the interaction between water flow and man-made structures. This is not limited to dams and check-dams, but also include concrete tunnels that are often built to channel water flow into the underground in densely populated urban areas. Mountain streams generally feature small concentration time and significant solid transport that may pose a serious threat to the population. More in details, solid transport can cause diverse issues, including major alterations in the water flow regime, flooding and, in the worst cases, severe damages to structures. In this work we present a case study concerning the investigation of a concrete lined water tunnel located in the pre-alpine area in the North of Italy. We performed geophysical analysis by means of the Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR), a high-frequency electromagnetic technique able to investigate concrete structures in a non-destructive manner and with a good resolution. Our aim is to identify the erosional activity beneath the tunnel floor caused by water flow and the associated solid transport. The outcomes of this study can identify the damaged tunnel segments where repair interventions are most urgent.