• Explosives and Blasting
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.22-33
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• 2021

Recently, the frequent occurrence of ground subsidence in urban areas has caused increasing anxiety in residents and incurred significant social costs. Among the causes of ground subsidence, the rupture of old water and sewer pipes not only halts the operation of the buried pipes, but also leads to ground and water pollution problems. However, because most pipes are buried after construction and cannot be seen with the naked eye, the importance of maintenance has underestimated compared to other structures. In recent years, integrated physical exploration has been applied to the maintenance of underground pipes and structures. Currently, to investigate the internal conditions and vulnerable portions of the ground, consolidated physical surveys are executed. Consolidated physical surveys are analysis techniques that obtain various material data and add existing data using multiple physical surveys. Generally, in geotechnical engineering, consolidated physical surveys including electrical and surface wave surveys are adopted. However, it is difficult to investigate time-based changes in under ground using these surveys. In contrast, surveys using cosmic-ray muons have been used to scan the inner parts of nuclear reactors with penetration technology. Surveys using muons enable real-time observation without the influence of vibration or electricity. Such surveys have great potential for available technology because of their ability to investigate density distributions without requiring as much labor. In this paper, survey technologies using cosmic ray muons are introduced, and the possibilities of applying such technologies as new physical survey technologies for underground structures are suggested.