Efficient Detection of Buried Plastic Pipes by Combining GPR and Electric Field Methods

In this paper, an efficient plastic pipe detecting model is proposed, which combines the ground penetrating radar (GPR) and the electric field method. The model consists of the electric field locating model (EFLM) and the GPR B-scan image interpreting (GBII) model. Synchronized electric field and GPR data are collected through a data acquisition device dedicatedly designed for the swift and accurate estimation of buried plastic pipes. The EFLM estimates the approximate locations of underground plastic pipes from the electric field data quickly, separates a GPR B-scan image into segments, keeps the segments that might contain hyperbolas, and discards the irrelevant ones. Then, the GBII model interprets the depth and radius of the buried pipe in the kept segments. Our numerical simulations and experiments prove that by utilizing the EFLM, the 1-D electric field data could be processed quickly and the GPR B-scan image could be segmented with part of irrelevant pixels discarded, while hyperbolas in the kept image segments could be automatically and accurately fitted. With our proposed model, the depth and radius of the buried pipes could be efficiently obtained.