Defect size estimation method for magnetic flux leakage signals using convolutional neural networks

A method for defect size estimation of magnetic flux leakage (MFL) signals using convolutional neural networks (CNNs) is proposed to overcome the problem of quantitative identification of pipeline MFL testing. The model mainly includes two modules: defect classification and defect size regression. The former is used to realise data fusion, feature extraction and tasks of three components (axial, circumferential and radial) of the MFL defect signal. The defect size regression module includes seven CNNs, which realise the size estimation of different types of defect. The input is a different type of defect in the defect classification module and the output is the length, width and depth information of the defect. Finally, the training and prediction are conducted using a defect dataset. The results show that the proposed method can effectively identify the MFL defect size of the pipeline.