A Quantitative Detection Method for Surface Cracks on Slab Track Based on Infrared Thermography
Surface cracks are typical defects in high-speed rail (HSR) slab tracks, which can cause structural deterioration and reduce the service reliability of the track system. However, the question of how to effectively detect and quantify the surface cracks remains unsolved at present. In this paper, a n...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2023-05-01
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| Series: | Applied Sciences |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/13/11/6681 |
| _version_ | 1797597894351519744 |
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| author | Xuan-Yu Ye Yan-Yun Luo Zai-Wei Li Xiao-Zhou Liu |
| author_facet | Xuan-Yu Ye Yan-Yun Luo Zai-Wei Li Xiao-Zhou Liu |
| author_sort | Xuan-Yu Ye |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Surface cracks are typical defects in high-speed rail (HSR) slab tracks, which can cause structural deterioration and reduce the service reliability of the track system. However, the question of how to effectively detect and quantify the surface cracks remains unsolved at present. In this paper, a novel crack-detection method based on infrared thermography is adopted to quantify surface cracks on rail-track slabs. In this method, the thermogram of a track slab acquired by an infrared camera is first processed with the non-subsampled contourlet transform (NSCT)-based image-enhancement algorithm, and the crack is located via an edge-detection algorithm. Next, to quantitatively detect the surface crack, a pixel-locating method is proposed, whereby the crack width, length, and area can be obtained. Lastly, the detection accuracy of the proposed method at different temperatures is verified against a laboratory test, in which a scale model of the slab is poured and a temperature-controlled cabinet is used to control the temperature-change process. The results show that the proposed method can effectively enhance the edge details of the surface cracks in the image and that the crack area can be effectively extracted; the accuracy of the quantification of the crack width can reach 99%, whilst the accuracy of the quantification of the crack length and area is 85%, which essentially meets the requirements of HSR-slab-track inspection. This research could open the possibility of the application of IRT-based track slab inspection in HSR operations to enhance the efficiency of defect detection. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T03:11:50Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-c769026cb4004d84909dea18319aff3f |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2076-3417 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T03:11:50Z |
| publishDate | 2023-05-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Applied Sciences |
| spelling | doaj.art-c769026cb4004d84909dea18319aff3f2023-11-18T07:35:20ZengMDPI AGApplied Sciences2076-34172023-05-011311668110.3390/app13116681A Quantitative Detection Method for Surface Cracks on Slab Track Based on Infrared ThermographyXuan-Yu Ye0Yan-Yun Luo1Zai-Wei Li2Xiao-Zhou Liu3Institute of Railway and Urban Mass Transit, Tongji University, Shanghai 201804, ChinaInstitute of Railway and Urban Mass Transit, Tongji University, Shanghai 201804, ChinaSchool of Urban Rail Transportation, Shanghai University of Engineering Science, Shanghai 201620, ChinaCollege of Urban Transportation and Logistics, Shenzhen Technology University, Shenzhen 518118, ChinaSurface cracks are typical defects in high-speed rail (HSR) slab tracks, which can cause structural deterioration and reduce the service reliability of the track system. However, the question of how to effectively detect and quantify the surface cracks remains unsolved at present. In this paper, a novel crack-detection method based on infrared thermography is adopted to quantify surface cracks on rail-track slabs. In this method, the thermogram of a track slab acquired by an infrared camera is first processed with the non-subsampled contourlet transform (NSCT)-based image-enhancement algorithm, and the crack is located via an edge-detection algorithm. Next, to quantitatively detect the surface crack, a pixel-locating method is proposed, whereby the crack width, length, and area can be obtained. Lastly, the detection accuracy of the proposed method at different temperatures is verified against a laboratory test, in which a scale model of the slab is poured and a temperature-controlled cabinet is used to control the temperature-change process. The results show that the proposed method can effectively enhance the edge details of the surface cracks in the image and that the crack area can be effectively extracted; the accuracy of the quantification of the crack width can reach 99%, whilst the accuracy of the quantification of the crack length and area is 85%, which essentially meets the requirements of HSR-slab-track inspection. This research could open the possibility of the application of IRT-based track slab inspection in HSR operations to enhance the efficiency of defect detection.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/13/11/6681slab trackinfrared thermographysurface-crack detectionimage enhancementscale-model test |
| spellingShingle | Xuan-Yu Ye Yan-Yun Luo Zai-Wei Li Xiao-Zhou Liu A Quantitative Detection Method for Surface Cracks on Slab Track Based on Infrared Thermography Applied Sciences slab track infrared thermography surface-crack detection image enhancement scale-model test |
| title | A Quantitative Detection Method for Surface Cracks on Slab Track Based on Infrared Thermography |
| title_full | A Quantitative Detection Method for Surface Cracks on Slab Track Based on Infrared Thermography |
| title_fullStr | A Quantitative Detection Method for Surface Cracks on Slab Track Based on Infrared Thermography |
| title_full_unstemmed | A Quantitative Detection Method for Surface Cracks on Slab Track Based on Infrared Thermography |
| title_short | A Quantitative Detection Method for Surface Cracks on Slab Track Based on Infrared Thermography |
| title_sort | quantitative detection method for surface cracks on slab track based on infrared thermography |
| topic | slab track infrared thermography surface-crack detection image enhancement scale-model test |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/13/11/6681 |
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