Digitale Ermittlung von Rissweite und Rissaufweitungsgeschwindigkeit

Digital detection of crack width and crack widening velocity

Up to now a sound criterion to assess the type of shear failure of reinforced concrete structures precisely is lacking. Comparing the shear crack widths of common single span concrete beams of different reinforcement ratios at an equal load level, low reinforced beams show significantly wider cracks. In cases of highly shear reinforced beams a moderate crack widening velocity comes allong with load increase while low shear reinforced beams possess an accelerated crack widening velocity accompanied by a minor load increase. Hence, investigation of the crack widening velocity holds potential to derive criteria to judge the expected brittleness of shear failure. In a first step to determine the crack width, digital images are continuously taken at predetermined time instants from concrete specimen and are analysed using mathematical software. Monitoring a predefined region in known size, the crack width is gained counting picture elements which are belonging to the crack. Employing digital image processing, the picture matrix is converted into a binary one where cracked areas appear white and uncracked black. The contribution introduces the main concept and first results of the evaluation routine applied to laboratory tests.