The application of muon tomography to the imaging of railway tunnels

Thompson, L.F.; Stowell, J.P.; Fargher, S.J.; Steer, C.A.; Loughney, K.L.; O'Sullivan, E.M.; Gluyas, J.G.; Blaney, S.W.; Pidcock, R.J.

Abstract

Cosmic ray muon radiography utilizes highly penetrating cosmic ray muons to image the density profile of an object of interest. Here we report on a trial to use a portable field-deployable cosmic ray muon tracking system in order to image the whole overburden of a UK railway tunnel with short-duration scans (c. 30 min). An unknown overburden void was identified and, after trial, confirmed by railway authorities. These experiments demonstrate the identification of hidden construction shafts with high levels of statistical significance as density anomalies within the data.

Citation

Thompson, L., Stowell, J., Fargher, S., Steer, C., Loughney, K., O'Sullivan, E., Gluyas, J., Blaney, S., & Pidcock, R. (2020). The application of muon tomography to the imaging of railway tunnels. Physical Review Research, 2(2), Article 023017. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevresearch.2.023017

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Mar 5, 2020
• Online Publication Date: Apr 8, 2020
• Publication Date: Apr 30, 2020
• Deposit Date: Mar 10, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 11, 2020
• Journal: Physical Review Research
• Publisher: American Physical Society
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 2
• Issue: 2
• Article Number: 023017
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevresearch.2.023017
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1268413