Risk identification in levees using near-surface seismic methods

Key infrastructure, trillions of dollars of property, and millions of people are protected behind levees in the United States, with even more elsewhere around the world. Levee failure due to seepage, piping, or failure of culverts or conduits is a key risk driver for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). Thousands of kilometers of levees are outside of the USACE levee portfolio that have not been assessed for flood risk and may have unknown hazards that put levee integrity at risk. We present an overview of known challenges, how geophysics may play a role, and an example of using seismic methods to detect a culvert.