Date of Award

Summer 2025

Document Type

Open Access Dissertation

Department

Civil and Environmental Engineering

First Advisor

Dimitris Rizos

Abstract

Railway transportation is essential to national economies globally, and disruptions from geohazards can result in significant operational delays and considerable economic consequences. Satellite radar technologies, including Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR), offer an effective means to monitor geohazard risks across extensive railway networks. This thesis employs Multi-Temporal InSAR (MTInSAR) techniques, including Persistent Scatterer InSAR (PSInSAR) and Small Baseline Subset (SBAS), to identify high-risk areas along railway rights of way (ROW) prior to geohazard occurrences. However, the efficiency of these MT-InSAR and, consequently, the caliber of the data generated may be restricted by elements like topographical profile, vegetation, and surface soil properties. This thesis presents first a detailed site categorization approach to define areas according to site-specific characteristics, improving radar processing precision.

Next, this thesis adapted two Multi-Temporal InSAR techniques, i.e., PSInSAR and SBAS, to improve the detection of scatterers in the broader region of interest by introducing the new concept of a “Rolling SAR Image Stack.” Furthermore, three post-processing techniques were developed, i.e., “Thresholding,” “Accumulation,” and “Clustering Timeline,” that successfully detected the critical locations where geohazard failures may initiate. The thesis also demonstrates that these techniques, when used with Coherence Change Detection (CCD), a SAR method that is demonstrated to identify regions with high soil saturation, can improve hazard detection. The proposed approach demonstrates that modern SAR-based analysis provides useful tools for railway operators to detect critical locations prone to geohazards, which enhances safety and reduces interruptions by prompting immediate actions. This research underlines the relevance of combining data from soil and environmental sources with satellite observations to conduct complete hazard monitoring. Additionally, it underscores the necessity of future satellite technology developments to improve coverage and dependability.

Rights

© 2025, Sumanth Varma Byrraju

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