{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,11]],"date-time":"2026-03-11T16:40:04Z","timestamp":1773247204930,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":53,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"22","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,11,19]],"date-time":"2022-11-19T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1668816000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Sensors"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Thermal imaging plays a vital role in structural health monitoring of various materials and provides insight into the defect present due to aging, deterioration, and fault during construction. This study investigated the effectiveness of spatial filters during pre-processing of thermal images and a correlation technique in post-processing, as well as exploited its application in non-destructive testing and evaluation of defects in steel structures. Two linear filters (i.e., Gaussian and Window Averaging) and a non-linear filter (i.e., Median) were implemented during pre-processing of a pulsed thermography image sequence. The effectiveness of implemented filters was then assessed using signal to noise ratio as a quality metric. The result of pre-processing revealed that each implemented filter is capable of reducing impulse noise and producing high-quality images; additionally, when comparing the signal to noise ratio, the Gaussian filter dominated both Window Averaging and Median filters. Defect size was determined using a correlation technique on a sequence of pulsed thermography images that had been pre-processed with a Gaussian filter. Finally, it is concluded that the correlation technique could be applied to the fast measurement of defect size, even though the accuracy may depend on the detection limit of thermography and defect size to depth ratio.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/s22228965","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,11,21]],"date-time":"2022-11-21T04:39:59Z","timestamp":1669005599000},"page":"8965","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":16,"title":["A Study on the Effectiveness of Spatial Filters on Thermal Image Pre-Processing and Correlation Technique for Quantifying Defect Size"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"22","author":[{"given":"Ho Jong","family":"Kim","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Mechanical Design Engineering, Chonbuk National University, Jeonju 561-756, Republic of Korea"},{"name":"Gwangju Institute of Green Car Advancement, 55, Jingoksandanjungang-ro, Gwangsa-gu, Gwangju 62465, Republic of Korea"}]},{"given":"Anuja","family":"Shrestha","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Mechanical Engineering, School of Engineering, Kathmandu University, Dhulikhel, Kavrepalanchok P.O. Box 6250, Nepal"}]},{"given":"Eliza","family":"Sapkota","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Mechanical Engineering, School of Engineering, Kathmandu University, Dhulikhel, Kavrepalanchok P.O. Box 6250, Nepal"}]},{"given":"Anwit","family":"Pokharel","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Mechanical Engineering, School of Engineering, Kathmandu University, Dhulikhel, Kavrepalanchok P.O. Box 6250, Nepal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4514-2152","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Sarvesh","family":"Pandey","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Mechanical Engineering, School of Engineering, Kathmandu University, Dhulikhel, Kavrepalanchok P.O. Box 6250, Nepal"}]},{"given":"Cheol Sang","family":"Kim","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Mechanical Design Engineering, Chonbuk National University, Jeonju 561-756, Republic of Korea"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1562-9624","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ranjit","family":"Shrestha","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Mechanical Engineering, School of Engineering, Kathmandu University, Dhulikhel, Kavrepalanchok P.O. Box 6250, Nepal"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,11,19]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"(2020). Introductory Chapter: On Digital Image Processing. Digital Imaging, IntechOpen."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Vollmer, M., and Mllmann, K. (2018). Infrared Thermal Imaging: Fundamentals, Research and Applications, John Wiley & Sons. 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