Automated detection of cracks in roads using ground penetrating radar

Automated detection of cracks in roads using ground penetrating radar

A critical assessment criterion for road condition assessment is the amount and severity of cracking. Cracking causes a loss of structural capacity (i.e. strength and stiffness) and if severe can cause water infiltration into the subbase and subgrade, potentially leading to more serious structural failure. The onset of cracking therefore accelerates the processes of deterioration of the road. To date the accurate and reliable automated detection of road surface cracking is still problematic. Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) has the potential to detect cracks in materials as they cause changes in electromagnetic reflection. This paper proposes a method of automatic detection of road surface cracks using GPR and establishes the limits of its potential regarding the detectable crack size. Tests were conducted on asphalt pavement samples in a controlled laboratory environment. Significant changes in diffracted signal levels were observed in the GPR image when the image was analysed using a Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) algorithm for clutter reduction and a median filter to reduce noise. Moreover, a manifestly enhanced performance was achieved using a novel post-processing technique, which enabled the detection of cracks larger than 1.3 mm in width. The detected cracks were detectable irrespectively of the simulated physical conditions suggesting that the developed methodology is robust for use in practice. The experimental results indicate that the GPR system can be applied to automatically detect road cracking reliably in practice.

道路状况评估的一个关键评估标准是裂缝的数量和严重程度。裂缝会导致结构承载能力（即强度和刚度）的损失，如果严重的话，会导致水渗入底基层和路基，有可能导致更严重的结构破坏。因此，裂缝的出现加速了道路的损坏过程。到目前为止，准确可靠地自动检测路面裂缝仍然是个难题。 探地雷达（GPR）有可能检测到材料中的裂缝，因为裂缝会引起电磁反射的变化。本文提出了一种使用探地雷达自动检测路面裂缝的方法，并确定了其在可检测裂缝尺寸方面的潜力极限。 在受控的实验室环境中对沥青路面样本进行了测试。当使用奇异值分解（SVD）算法进行杂波抑制和中值滤波器进行降噪来分析图像时，在探地雷达图像中观察到衍射信号水平的显著变化。此外，使用一种新颖的后处理技术取得了明显增强的性能，该技术能够检测到宽度大于1.3毫米的裂缝。无论模拟的物理条件如何，检测到的裂缝都能被检测到，这表明所开发的方法在实际应用中是可靠的。实验结果表明，探地雷达系统可用于在实际中可靠地自动检测道路裂缝。