Crack Analysis of Textile Reinforced Concrete Using Automated Crack Evaluation via Digital Image Correlation

Abstract

Detecting and measuring cracks during laboratory experiments to characterize material behavior is an important task in building materials research. In this context, the evaluation of crack distribution is emphasized, including crack widths. Contact-free, optical 2D/3D-measuring Digital Image Correlation systems are used to analyze the full-field deformation of the surface. To examine the parameters affecting crack analysis through this measurement mode, a parameter study was conducted analyzing carbon textile-reinforced concrete tensile strength tests. For this purpose, facet size, facet overlap, and the threshold for crack identification based on major strain calculations in the evaluation were varied. The novelty lies in the in-depth exploration of these parameters to enhance crack analysis accuracy. To facilitate this, an automated crack evaluation tool (ACE) was developed and validated through tensile tests. The results of this paper provide evidence of the key parameters that influence crack analysis in textile reinforced concrete and contribute valuable guidance on optimum setting parameters.