Application of geological radar to oil and gas pipeline route selection in karst collapse areas

When oil and gas pipelines are constructed in karst areas, they may be damaged by karst collapse. To ensure the safe running of pipelines through caverns, therefore, it is necessary to explore clearly the development situations of the caverns. The geological radar is a new geophysical prospecting method with the advantages of high efficiency, high resolution and visual abnormal image. In this paper, the prospecting on Shajiang'ao cavern in Guangxi section of China- Myanmar oil and gas pipeline was taken as an example to introduce the application of geological radar to pipeline route selection in karst areas. Firstly, the topographic map of the detection region is measured by means of total station instrument. Then, the detection region is cleaned up and survey lines are laid. Finally, detection is carried out using the geological radar. Afterwards, the pipeline route is tuned according to the detection results to prevent the pipeline damage by karst collapse. Besides, the suggestions on the pipeline route selection in karst collapse areas were proposed. The engineering application results indicate that the geological radar has a certain effectiveness and economic rationality in the detecting shallow karst collapse of oil and gas pipeline.