A Novel Method Combining U-Net with LSTM for Three-Dimensional Soil Pore Segmentation Based on Computed Tomography Images

The non-destructive study of soil micromorphology via computed tomography (CT) imaging has yielded significant insights into the three-dimensional configuration of soil pores. Precise pore analysis is contingent on the accurate transformation of CT images into binary image representations. Notably, segmentation of 2D CT images frequently harbors inaccuracies. This paper introduces a novel three-dimensional pore segmentation method, BDULSTM, which integrates U-Net with convolutional long short-term memory (CLSTM) networks to harness sequence data from CT images and enhance the precision of pore segmentation. The BDULSTM method employs an encoder–decoder framework to holistically extract image features, utilizing skip connections to further refine the segmentation accuracy of soil structure. Specifically, the CLSTM component, critical for analyzing sequential information in soil CT images, is strategically positioned at the juncture of the encoder and decoder within the U-shaped network architecture. The validation of our method confirms its efficacy in advancing the accuracy of soil pore segmentation beyond that of previous deep learning techniques, such as U-Net and CLSTM independently. Indeed, BDULSTM exhibits superior segmentation capabilities across a diverse array of soil conditions. In summary, BDULSTM represents a state-of-the-art artificial intelligence technology for the 3D segmentation of soil pores and offers a promising tool for analyzing pore structure and soil quality.