gprMax: Open Source Software to Simulate Electromagnetic Wave Propagation for Ground Penetrating Radar

Craig  Warren; Antonios Giannopoulos; Iraklis Giannakis

doi:10.1016/j.cpc.2016.08.020

gprMax: Open Source Software to Simulate Electromagnetic Wave Propagation for Ground Penetrating Radar

Craig Warren^*, Antonios Giannopoulos, Iraklis Giannakis

^*Corresponding author for this work

Geology and Geophysics

University of Edinburgh

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

689 Citations (Scopus)

25 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

gprMax is open source software that simulates electromagnetic wave propagation, using the Finite-Difference Time-Domain (FDTD) method, for the numerical modelling of Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR). gprMax was originally developed in 1996 when numerical modelling using the FDTD method and, in general, the numerical modelling of GPR were in their infancy. Current computing resources offer the opportunity to build detailed and complex FDTD models of GPR to an extent that was not previously possible. To enable these types of simulations to be more easily realised, and also to facilitate the addition of more advanced features, gprMax has been redeveloped and significantly modernised. The original C-based code has been completely rewritten using a combination of Python and Cython programming languages. Standard and robust file formats have been chosen for geometry and field output files. New advanced modelling features have been added including: an unsplit implementation of higher order Perfectly Matched Layers (PMLs) using a recursive integration approach; diagonally anisotropic materials; dispersive media using multi-pole Debye, Drude or Lorenz expressions; soil modelling using a semi-empirical formulation for dielectric properties and fractals for geometric characteristics; rough surface generation; and the ability to embed complex transducers and targets.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	163-170
Number of pages	9
Journal	Computer Physics Communications
Volume	209
Early online date	8 Sept 2016
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpc.2016.08.020
Publication status	Published - Dec 2016

Bibliographical note

Acknowledgements
This work was supported by The Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl), UK, and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), UK (grant no. EP/J501943/1), and benefited from networking activities carried out within the EU funded COST Action TU1208 “Civil Engineering Applications of Ground Penetrating Radar”.

Keywords

Computational electromagnetism
Ground Penetrating Radar
Finite-Difference Time-Domain
Open source
Python

Access to Document

10.1016/j.cpc.2016.08.020Licence: CC BY

Warren_et_al_CPC_gprMax_VoR
© 2016 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Final published version, 2.17 MBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

@article{3aa9ee264bda4b1e90ab8fa1d657b102,

title = "gprMax: Open Source Software to Simulate Electromagnetic Wave Propagation for Ground Penetrating Radar",

abstract = "gprMax is open source software that simulates electromagnetic wave propagation, using the Finite-Difference Time-Domain (FDTD) method, for the numerical modelling of Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR). gprMax was originally developed in 1996 when numerical modelling using the FDTD method and, in general, the numerical modelling of GPR were in their infancy. Current computing resources offer the opportunity to build detailed and complex FDTD models of GPR to an extent that was not previously possible. To enable these types of simulations to be more easily realised, and also to facilitate the addition of more advanced features, gprMax has been redeveloped and significantly modernised. The original C-based code has been completely rewritten using a combination of Python and Cython programming languages. Standard and robust file formats have been chosen for geometry and field output files. New advanced modelling features have been added including: an unsplit implementation of higher order Perfectly Matched Layers (PMLs) using a recursive integration approach; diagonally anisotropic materials; dispersive media using multi-pole Debye, Drude or Lorenz expressions; soil modelling using a semi-empirical formulation for dielectric properties and fractals for geometric characteristics; rough surface generation; and the ability to embed complex transducers and targets.",

keywords = "Computational electromagnetism, Ground Penetrating Radar, Finite-Difference Time-Domain, Open source, Python",

author = "Craig Warren and Antonios Giannopoulos and Iraklis Giannakis",

note = "Acknowledgements This work was supported by The Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl), UK, and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), UK (grant no. EP/J501943/1), and benefited from networking activities carried out within the EU funded COST Action TU1208 “Civil Engineering Applications of Ground Penetrating Radar”.",

year = "2016",

month = dec,

doi = "10.1016/j.cpc.2016.08.020",

language = "English",

volume = "209",

pages = "163--170",

journal = "Computer Physics Communications",

issn = "0010-4655",

publisher = "Elsevier",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - gprMax

T2 - Open Source Software to Simulate Electromagnetic Wave Propagation for Ground Penetrating Radar

AU - Warren, Craig

AU - Giannopoulos, Antonios

AU - Giannakis, Iraklis

N1 - Acknowledgements This work was supported by The Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl), UK, and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), UK (grant no. EP/J501943/1), and benefited from networking activities carried out within the EU funded COST Action TU1208 “Civil Engineering Applications of Ground Penetrating Radar”.

PY - 2016/12

Y1 - 2016/12

N2 - gprMax is open source software that simulates electromagnetic wave propagation, using the Finite-Difference Time-Domain (FDTD) method, for the numerical modelling of Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR). gprMax was originally developed in 1996 when numerical modelling using the FDTD method and, in general, the numerical modelling of GPR were in their infancy. Current computing resources offer the opportunity to build detailed and complex FDTD models of GPR to an extent that was not previously possible. To enable these types of simulations to be more easily realised, and also to facilitate the addition of more advanced features, gprMax has been redeveloped and significantly modernised. The original C-based code has been completely rewritten using a combination of Python and Cython programming languages. Standard and robust file formats have been chosen for geometry and field output files. New advanced modelling features have been added including: an unsplit implementation of higher order Perfectly Matched Layers (PMLs) using a recursive integration approach; diagonally anisotropic materials; dispersive media using multi-pole Debye, Drude or Lorenz expressions; soil modelling using a semi-empirical formulation for dielectric properties and fractals for geometric characteristics; rough surface generation; and the ability to embed complex transducers and targets.

AB - gprMax is open source software that simulates electromagnetic wave propagation, using the Finite-Difference Time-Domain (FDTD) method, for the numerical modelling of Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR). gprMax was originally developed in 1996 when numerical modelling using the FDTD method and, in general, the numerical modelling of GPR were in their infancy. Current computing resources offer the opportunity to build detailed and complex FDTD models of GPR to an extent that was not previously possible. To enable these types of simulations to be more easily realised, and also to facilitate the addition of more advanced features, gprMax has been redeveloped and significantly modernised. The original C-based code has been completely rewritten using a combination of Python and Cython programming languages. Standard and robust file formats have been chosen for geometry and field output files. New advanced modelling features have been added including: an unsplit implementation of higher order Perfectly Matched Layers (PMLs) using a recursive integration approach; diagonally anisotropic materials; dispersive media using multi-pole Debye, Drude or Lorenz expressions; soil modelling using a semi-empirical formulation for dielectric properties and fractals for geometric characteristics; rough surface generation; and the ability to embed complex transducers and targets.

KW - Computational electromagnetism

KW - Ground Penetrating Radar

KW - Finite-Difference Time-Domain

KW - Open source

KW - Python

U2 - 10.1016/j.cpc.2016.08.020

DO - 10.1016/j.cpc.2016.08.020

M3 - Article

SN - 0010-4655

VL - 209

SP - 163

EP - 170

JO - Computer Physics Communications

JF - Computer Physics Communications

ER -

gprMax: Open Source Software to Simulate Electromagnetic Wave Propagation for Ground Penetrating Radar

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

Access to Document

Fingerprint

Cite this