Non-contact detection of degradation of in-service steel sheet piles due to buckling phenomena by using digital image analysis with Hough transform

Abstract

Steel sheet pile materials are primarily used for canal structure construction for irrigation and drainage of agricultural fields in Japan. Recently, accelerated corrosion of steel materials and buckling phenomena in pitting corrosion parts have been detected in in-service steel sheet pile canals. In this study, we focus on the buckling phenomenon of in-service steel sheet pile canals, which is detected by non-contact monitoring using digital image analysis. The buckling phenomenon index is evaluated as the inclination angle of the steel sheet pile due to deformation. As a digital image analysis, Hough transform is applied, which is a figure detection method in digital images, to detect a straight line that describes the distance and angle parameters. The angle parameter corresponds to the inclination angle index of in-service steel sheet pile with a buckling phenomenon. As a result, the maximum difference between the analyzed angles by Hough transform and the measured angles is evaluated as 0.9° after the image rotation correction. The relation of the analyzed angles by Hough transform and the measured angles of the buckling phenomenon is correlated. Therefore, the degradation of steel sheet pile canals is quantitatively evaluated by using digital image analysis with unmanned aerial vehicle monitoring. This study’s significance is non-contact and simple measurement by using a digital image which can reduce a working time and perform quick diagnosis in extensive areas.