Defect Detection of Polyethylene Gas Pipeline Based on Convolutional Neural Networks and Image Processing

Abstract In this paper, a method based on image recognition was proposed to detect the defects of polyethylene (PE) gas pipeline, especially the deformation due to the indentation. First, the pipeline -detection VGG (PD-VGG) model was established based on the convolutional neural network (CNN), and appropriate model parameters were optimized through model training. The defect recognition rate of the improved model can reach 94.76%. Following, the weighted average graying algorithm was used to separate the defects characterized by deformation. Then, an improved gamma correction algorithm was applied to achieve image enhancement, and the interference of impurities adhered on intersurface of pipeline was also removed by using multilayer filters. The edge detection of the defect image was completed by using the Canny operator, and following the screening between the target contour and the interference contour by using top-contour. Finally, the algorithm for minimum outer rectangle algorithm was used to fit the defect contour, and the eigenvalues of deformation defects were extracted. The results indicate that the above defect detection method can better extract the deformation contour of the dented pipeline. The high agreement with the experimental results provides a basis for the research of effectively recognizing whether the pipeline has undergone ductile failure only through profile detection of defects.