Corroded Bolt Identification Using Mask Region-Based Deep Learning Trained on Synthesized Data

The performance of a neural network depends on the availability of datasets, and most deep learning techniques lack accuracy and generalization when they are trained using limited datasets. Using synthesized training data is one of the effective ways to overcome the above limitation. Besides, the previous corroded bolt detection method has focused on classifying only two classes, clean and fully rusted bolts, and its performance for detecting partially rusted bolts is still questionable. This study presents a deep learning method to identify corroded bolts in steel structures using a mask region-based convolutional neural network (Mask-RCNN) trained on synthesized data. The Resnet50 integrated with a feature pyramid network is used as the backbone for feature extraction in the Mask-RCNN-based corroded bolt detector. A four-step data synthesis procedure is proposed to autonomously generate the training datasets of corroded bolts with different severities. Afterwards, the proposed detector is trained by the synthesized datasets, and its robustness is demonstrated by detecting corroded bolts in a lab-scale steel structure under varying capturing distances and perspectives. The results show that the proposed method has detected corroded bolts well and identified their corrosion levels with the most desired overall accuracy rate = 96.3% for a 1.0 m capturing distance and 97.5% for a 15° perspective angle.