COMSOL Multiphysics® Software: Time-Lapse Electrical Resistivity Inversion

T. K. Chou[1], M. Chouteau[1], M. J. Yi[2]
[1]Department of Civil, Geological & Mining Engineering, École Polytechnique de Montréal, Montreal, QC, Canada
[2]Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources, Daejeon, South Korea
Published in 2014

Time-lapse electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) method provides a non-invasive way to monitor subtle sub-surface changes caused by water flow such as in an infiltration test. Problems arise when the inversion models contain artifacts due to measurement errors, rapid change in soil electrical property during measurement time, etc. A new approach was developed by Kim et al. (2004) and (2009) that incorporates the time constraint in the ERT inversion scheme that simultaneously inverts the entire monitoring data set. It was shown that such inversion reduces inversion artifacts and provides adequate reconstruction of the true model. The aim of this project is to determine if COMSOL Multiphysics® with the AC/DC Module can help inverting monitoring ERT data using the latest inversion scheme proposed.

Download