Enhancing Rock Image Segmentation in Digital Rock Physics: A Fusion of
  Generative AI and State-of-the-Art Neural Networks
Zhaoyang Ma Xupeng He Hyung Kwak Jun Gao Shuyu Sun Bicheng Yan
In digital rock physics, analysing microstructures from CT and SEM scans is
crucial for estimating properties like porosity and pore connectivity.
Traditional segmentation methods like thresholding and CNNs often fall short in
accurately detailing rock microstructures and are prone to noise. U-Net
improved segmentation accuracy but required many expert-annotated samples, a
laborious and error-prone process due to complex pore shapes. Our study
employed an advanced generative AI model, the diffusion model, to overcome
these limitations. This model generated a vast dataset of CT/SEM and binary
segmentation pairs from a small initial dataset. We assessed the efficacy of
three neural networks: U-Net, Attention-U-net, and TransUNet, for segmenting
these enhanced images. The diffusion model proved to be an effective data
augmentation technique, improving the generalization and robustness of deep
learning models. TransU-Net, incorporating Transformer structures, demonstrated
superior segmentation accuracy and IoU metrics, outperforming both U-Net and
Attention-U-net. Our research advances rock image segmentation by combining the
diffusion model with cutting-edge neural networks, reducing dependency on
extensive expert data and boosting segmentation accuracy and robustness.
TransU-Net sets a new standard in digital rock physics, paving the way for
future geoscience and engineering breakthroughs.