ERT and Temperature Monitoring to Assess the Effectiveness of Insulated Culverts on Northern Highways

Heat transfer into the ground at highway culvert locations can lead to the thawing of permafrost, damaging infrastructure, shortening its lifespan, and increasing maintenance costs. The Dempster Highway in the northern Yukon experiences multiple culvert failures attributed to permafrost thaw. The Yukon Government Department of Highways and Public Works wants to further understand the problem and test potential mitigation methods. A necessary culvert replacement at km 381 provided the opportunity to trial the use of a layer of rigid foam insulation under the new culvert, with the intention of providing an insulating layer between the culvert and the permafrost underneath. Permafrost researchers at the Northern Climate ExChange (NCE) developed an approach to monitor the effectiveness of the insulating layer using a combination of temperature and electrical resistivity monitoring.