UAV-based transient electromagnetic 3D forward modeling and inversion and analysis of exploration capability

Unmanned aerial vehicle transient electromagnetic (UAV-TEM) is a novel airborne exploration method that offers advantages such as low cost, simple operation, high exploration efficiency and suitability for near-surface exploration in complex terrain areas. To improve the accuracy of data interpretation in this method, the authors conducted a systematic three-dimensional (3D) forward modeling and inversion of the UAV-TEM. This study utilized the finite element method based on unstructured tetrahedral elements and employed the second-order backward Euler method for time discretization. This allowed for accurate 3D modeling and accounted for the effects of complex terrain. Based on these, the influence characteristics of flight altitudes and the sizes, burial depths, and resistivities of anomalies are compared and analyzed to explore the UAV-TEM systems’ exploration capability. Lastly, four typical geoelectrical models of landslides are designed, and the inversion method based on the Gauss-Newton optimization method is used to image the landslide models and analyze the imaging effect of the UAV-TEM method on landslide geohazards. Numerical results showed that UAV-TEM could have better exploration resolution and fine imaging of nearsurface structures, providing important technical support for monitoring, early warning, and preventing landslides and other geological hazards.