Leakage diagnostic method for water supply pipeline based on ground penetrating radar and image correlation algorithm

Abstract

In this paper, a new leakage diagnostic method for water supply pipeline based on ground penetrating radar(GPR), image correlation algorithm and uncertainty analysis method is proposed. The presented leakage diagnosis based on GPR can identify the leakage by using the change of hyperbolic echo in the radar echo map before and after leakage. However, the determination of leakage regions needs to be done manually and the accuracy of leakage diagnostic results are affected by subjectivity and experience of technicians. Additionally, the adverse effects of testing errors and calculation errors on identification results are not being considered in the presented leakage diagnostic method. In this paper, the change of hyperbolic echo in radar echo map caused by leakage is explained firstly based on the experimental results. And then, the image correlation algorithm is introduced to calculate the correlation coefficients of radar echo maps before and after leakage, which can be used as the leakage diagnostic indicator. Finally, the uncertainty analysis method is used to consider the influence of testing errors and calculation errors on the leakage diagnostic indicator and the new leakage diagnostic method for water supply pipeline is proposed. The proposed leakage diagnostic method is the novelty of this paper and its workability is verified in the laboratory and the field tests. The results show that the proposed method can effectively identify the leakage region in water supply pipeline.