PSI - Issue 84

Ilaria Catapano et al. / Procedia Structural Integrity 84 (2026) 119–126

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4. Conclusions This study has presented preliminary outcomes of the EMILI project, addressing the need for standardized electromagnetic techniques to assess bridge integrity, landslides, and their interactions. The systematic literature review of scientific publications reveals a growing adoption of GPR and ERT in bridge and landslide investigations but highlights a critical gap: no research explicitly targets bridge-landslide interactions, and harmonized acquisition protocols are still lacking. Preliminary numerical modelling results demonstrate that conventional surface-only configurations provide limited resolution for deep foundations. However, combined surface-borehole (SB 2 ) ERT significantly improves the detection and geometric characterization of both masonry plinths and RC pile foundations in different simplified geological contexts. In addition, GPR borehole radargrams allow reliable estimation of pile depth, while microwave tomographic processing enhances imaging capabilities, enabling better discrimination of foundation depth than raw radargram interpretation in the case of surface GPR data. These findings confirm the complementary nature of GPR and ERT when deployed in coordinated, non conventional configurations supported by forward modelling. Future work will focus on: (1) incorporating complex geological settings; (2) developing laboratory validation surveys and eventually field validation campaigns on real bridge sites affected by landslides; and (3) translating these outcomes into operational guidelines to assess landslides, bridges, and their interactions. Acknowledgements The authors acknowledge funding by FABRE “Research consortium for the evaluation and monitoring of bridges, viaducts and other structures” (www.consorziofabre.it/en) within the activities of the EMILI research project. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the funding organization. The activities were also supported by the scientific research project ICARUS “multiscale Integrated approaCh for the deteriorAtion assessment of Reinforced concrete strUctureS”, funded by the European Union – Next Generation EU – CUP B53D23005520006. 5. References Blanchy, G., Saneiyan, S., Boyd, J., McLachlan, P., Binley, A., 2020. ResIPy, an intuitive open source software for complex geoelectrical inversion/modeling. Computers & Geosciences, 137, 104423, doi: 10.1016/j.cageo.2020.104423. Catapano, I., Gennarelli, G., Ludeno, G., Soldovieri, F., 2019. Applying ground-penetrating radar and microwave tomography data processing in cultural heritage: State of the art and future trends. IEEE Signal Processing Magazine, 36 (4), 53-61. doi: 10.1109/MSP.2019.2895121. Daniels, D. J. and Institution of Electrical Engineers (Eds.). 2007. GPR. IEE radar, sonar, navigation, and avionics series. London: Institution of Electrical Engineers. Giocoli, A., Catapano, I., Ludeno, G., Salvia, G., De Martino, G., Di Gennaro, D., Giampaolo, V., Perrone, A., Gallipoli, M.R., Lapenna, V., Esposito, G., Gennarelli, G., Soldovieri, F., Ormando, C., Di Pietro, A., Pollino, M., Buffarini, G., Lipari, A., Peloso, A., Zini, A., Clemente, P., Capozzoli, L., (in press). Electrical Resistivity Tomography and Ground Penetrating Radar in landslide and bridge studies: a bibliographic overview. International Journal of Bridge Engineering, Management and Research. Lapenna, V., and A. Perrone. 2022. “Time-Lapse ERT(TL-ERT) for Landslide Monitoring: Recent Advances and Future Directions.” Applied. Science., 12 (3): 1425. https://doi.org/10.3390/app12031425. Morelli, G., Labrecque, D.J., 1996. Advances in ERT inverse modeling. European. Journal of. Environmental and. Engineering. Geophysics,1, 171-186. Novo, A., Vinent, M.L., Levy, T.M., 2012. Geophysical Surveys at Khirbat Faynan, an Ancient Mound Site in Southern Jordan. International Journal of Geophysics., 8. https://doi.org/10.1155/2012/432823. Warren, C., Giannopoulos, A., Giannakis, I., 2016. gprMax: Open-source software to simulate electromagnetic wave propagation for ground penetrating radar. Computer Physics Communications, 209, 163–170. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpc.2016.08.020.