Simulation of Fracture Process of Lightweight Aggregate Concrete Based on Digital Image Processing Technology

The mechanical properties and failure mechanism of lightweight aggregate concrete(LWAC)is a hot topic in the engineering field,and the relationship between its microstructure and macroscopic mechanical properties is also a frontier research topic in the academic field.In this study,the image processing technology is used to establish a micro-structure model of lightweight aggregate concrete.Through the information extraction and processing of the section image of actual light aggregate concrete specimens,the mesostructural model of light aggregate concrete with real aggregate characteristics is established.The numerical simulation of uniaxial tensile test,uniaxial compression test and three-point bending test of lightweight aggregate concrete are carried out using a new finite element method-the base force element method respectively.Firstly,the image processing technology is used to produce beam specimens,uniaxial compression specimens and uniaxial tensile specimens of light aggregate concrete,which can better simulate the aggregate shape and random distribution of real light aggregate concrete.Secondly,the three-point bending test is numerically simulated.Thirdly,the uniaxial compression specimen generated by image processing technology is numerically simulated.Fourth,the uniaxial tensile specimen generated by image processing technology is numerically simulated.The mechanical behavior and damage mode of the specimen during loading were analyzed.The results of numerical simulation are compared and analyzed with those of relevant experiments.The feasibility and correctness of the micromodel established in this study for analyzing the micromechanics of lightweight aggregate concrete materials are verified.Image processing technology has a broad application prospect in the field of concrete mesoscopic damage analysis.

Correlations between mineral composition and mechanical properties of granite using digital image processing and discrete element method

This study investigated the correlations between mechanical properties and mineralogy of granite using the digital image processing(DIP) and discrete element method(DEM). The results showed that the X-ray diffraction(XRD)-based DIP method effectively analyzed the mineral composition contents and spatial distributions of granite. During the particle flow code(PFC2D) model calibration phase, the numerical simulation exhibited that the uniaxial compressive strength(UCS) value, elastic modulus(E), and failure pattern of the granite specimen in the UCS test were comparable to the experiment. By establishing 351 sets of numerical models and exploring the impacts of mineral composition on the mechanical properties of granite, it indicated that there was no negative correlation between quartz and feldspar for UCS, tensile strength(σ_(t)), and E. In contrast, mica had a significant negative correlation for UCS, σ_(t), and E. The presence of quartz increased the brittleness of granite, whereas the presence of mica and feldspar increased its ductility in UCS and direct tensile strength(DTS) tests. Varying contents of major mineral compositions in granite showed minor influence on the number of cracks in both UCS and DTS tests.

Analysis of morphological characteristics of gravels based on digital image processing technology and self-organizing map

A comprehensive understanding of spatial distribution and clustering patterns of gravels is of great significance for ecological restoration and monitoring.However,traditional methods for studying gravels are low-efficiency and have many errors.This study researched the spatial distribution and cluster characteristics of gravels based on digital image processing technology combined with a self-organizing map(SOM)and multivariate statistical methods in the grassland of northern Tibetan Plateau.Moreover,the correlation of morphological parameters of gravels between different cluster groups and the environmental factors affecting gravel distribution were analyzed.The results showed that the morphological characteristics of gravels in northern region(cluster C)and southern region(cluster B)of the Tibetan Plateau were similar,with a low gravel coverage,small gravel diameter,and elongated shape.These regions were mainly distributed in high mountainous areas with large topographic relief.The central region(cluster A)has high coverage of gravels with a larger diameter,mainly distributed in high-altitude plains with smaller undulation.Principal component analysis(PCA)results showed that the gravel distribution of cluster A may be mainly affected by vegetation,while those in clusters B and C could be mainly affected by topography,climate,and soil.The study confirmed that the combination of digital image processing technology and SOM could effectively analyzed the spatial distribution characteristics of gravels,providing a new mode for gravel research.

Automatic measurement of three-phase contact angles in pore throats based on digital images

With the help of digital image processing technology, an automatic measurement method for the three-phase contact angles in the pore throats of the microfluidic model was established using the microfluidic water flooding experiment videos as the data source. The results of the new method were verified through comparing with the manual measurement data.On this basis, the dynamic changes of the three-phase contact angles under flow conditions were clarified by the contact angles probability density curve and mean value change curve. The results show that, for water-wetting rocks, the mean value of the contact angles is acute angle during the early stage of the water flooding process, and it increases with the displacement time and becomes obtuse angle in the middle-late stage of displacement as the dominant force of oil phase gradually changes from viscous force to capillary force. The droplet flow in the remaining oil occurs in the central part of the pore throats, without three-phase contact angle. The contact angles for the porous flow and the columnar flow change slightly during the displacement and present as obtuse angles in view of mean values, which makes the remaining oil poorly movable and thus hard to be recovered. The mean value of the contact angle for the cluster flow tends to increase in the flooding process, which makes the remaining oil more difficult to be recovered. The contact angles for the membrane flow are mainly obtuse angles and reach the highest mean value in the late stage of displacement, which makes the remaining oil most difficult to be recovered. After displacement, the remaining oils under different flow regimes are just subjected to capillary force, with obtuse contact angles, and the wettability of the pore throat walls in the microfluidic model tends to be oil-wet under the action of crude oil.

Applying Digital Image Processing to Evaluate a Extraction Method of Cartographic Features in Digital Images

A topic studied in cartography is to make the extraction of cartographic features that provide the update of cartographic maps more easily. For this reason many automatic routines were created with the intent to perform the features extraction. Despite of all studies about this, some features cannot be found by the algorithm or it can extract some pixels unduly. So the current article aims to show the results with the software development that uses the original and reference image to calculate some statistics about the extraction process. Furthermore, the calculated statistics can be used to evaluate the extraction process.

Numerical simulation of direct shear tests on mechanical properties of talus deposits based on self-adaptive PCNN digital image processing

The macro mechanical properties of materials with characteristics of large scale and complicated structural composition can be analyzed through its reconstructed meso-structures.In this work,the meso-structures of talus deposits that widely exist in the hydro-power engineering in the southwest of China were first reconstructed by small particles according to the in-situ photographs based on the self-adaptive PCNN digital image processing,and then numerical direct shear tests were carried out for studying the mechanical properties of talus deposits.Results indicate that the reconstructed meso-structures of talus deposits are more consistent with the actual situation because the self-adaptive PCNN digital image processing has a higher discrimination in the details of soil-rock segmentation.The existence and random distribution of rock blocks make the initial shear stiffness,the peak strength and the residual strength higher than those of the "pure soil" with particle size less than 1.25 cm apparently,but reduce the displacements required for the talus deposits reaching its peak shear strength.The increase of rock proportion causes a significant improvement in the internal friction angle of talus deposit,which to a certain degree leads to the characteristics of shear stress-displacement curves having a changing trend from the plastic strain softening deformation to the nonlinear strain hardening deformation,while an unconspicuous increase in cohesion.The uncertainty and heterogeneity of rock distributions cause the differences of rock proportion within shear zone,leading to a relatively strong fluctuation in peak strengths during the shear process,while movement features of rock blocks,such as translation,rotation and crossing,expand the scope of shear zone,increase the required shear force,and also directly lead to the misjudgment that the lower shear strength is obtained from the samples with high rock proportion.That,however,just explains the reason why the shear strength gained from a small amount of indoor test data is not consistent with engineering practice.

Shape characterization of sand particles based on digital image processing technology

To characterize the shape of sand particles for concrete,a new method is proposed based on digital image processing(known as the DIP method).By analyzing sand particles projection,the length,width and thickness of sand were measured to characterize particle form.The area and perimeter were measured to characterize particle angularity.The results of the DIP method and Vernier caliper were compared to examine the accuracy of the DIP method.The sample size test was conducted to show the statistical significance of shape results measured by the DIP method.The practicality of the DIP method was verified by instance analysis.The results show that aspect ratios and roundness measured by the DIP method are equal to ones by the Vernier caliper.Results by DIP are dependent on the sand particle number,and at least 350 particles should be measured to represent the overall shape property of sand.The results show that the DIP method is able to distinguish the differences in the shape of sand particles.It achieves the direct measurement of sand particle thickness,and the characterization results of sand aspect ratios and roundness are accurate,statistically significant and practical.Therefore,the DIP method is suitable for sand particle shape characterization.

Improvements of Traditional Laser Fraunhofer Diffraction Experiment Using Digital Image Processing Method

We present an improved digital image processing(DIP)method to calculate the widths of single slits.Different from the traditional laser Fraunhofer diffraction experiment in college physical experiments,by performing fast Fourier transform,inverse fast Fourier transform and the nonlinear leastsquare fitting on the diffraction pattern taken by a camera,the DIP method can quickly return an analytic expression,whose period is used to calculate widths of single slits.By comparing the measured results by the DIP method and the successional difference(SD)method,we find that for a single slit whose width is 60372μm,the DIP method is more accurate.Experimental results show that for single slits with widths between 40μm and 160μm,the relative error of the DIP method is less than 2.78%.Also,the DIP method can be used to measure the diameter of filament and fibres online in real time.

Digital image processing of saturation for two-phase flow in planar porous media model

In this paper, the accuracy of estimating stained non-wetting phase saturation using digital image processing is examined, and a novel post-processing approach for calculating threshold is presented. In order to remove the effect of the background noise of images and to enhance the high-frequency component of the original image, image smoothing and image sharpening methods are introduced. Depending on the correct threshold, the image binarization processing is particularly useful for estimating stained non-wetting phase saturation. Calculated saturation data are compared with the measured saturation data during the two-phase flow experiment in an artificial steel planar porous media model. The results show that the calculated saturation data agree with the measured ones. With the help of an artificial steel planar porous media model, digital image processing is an accurate and simple method for obtaining the stained non-wetting phase saturation.

Measuring Structural Parameters of Knitted Fabrics by Digital Image Processing Techniques

In the knitting industry the measurements of the stitch density and the stitch length are usually done manually, which may lead to lower efficiency and less definition and also bring subjective ideas into the test results. In order to improve the effect we can measure with Digital Image Processing Techniques. A piece of sample is scanned into computer and changed into a digital image, which is processed with media filtering. To acquire the power spectrum, the image in the spatial domain is converted into the frequency domain. Picking up the characteristic points describing the stitch density and the stitch length separately in the power spectra and reconstructing them, the values of the stitch density and the stitch length could be calculated. When measuring the stitch length, we should establish a geometric model of the stitch based en the digital image processing, which provides a method to transform the stitch length in the two-dimensien space into the three-dimensien space and to measure the value of the stitch length more accurately. This method also provides a new way to measure the stitch length without damaging the fabric.

New Optical Triangulation and Digital Image Processing in Measurement

In this paper,a new direct optical triangulation(DOT) for measuring theout-of-plane displacement is given.In order to state its principle,DOT is used to measure a micro-displacement of a rigid body,and at the same time,the method of digital image processing is also given.

Three-dimensional finite element simulation and reconstruction of jointed rock models using CT scanning and photogrammetry

The geometry of joints has a significant influence on the mechanical properties of rocks.To simplify the curved joint shapes in rocks,the joint shape is usually treated as straight lines or planes in most laboratory experiments and numerical simulations.In this study,the computerized tomography (CT) scanning and photogrammetry were employed to obtain the internal and surface joint structures of a limestone sample,respectively.To describe the joint geometry,the edge detection algorithms and a three-dimensional (3D) matrix mapping method were applied to reconstruct CT-based and photogrammetry-based jointed rock models.For comparison tests,the numerical uniaxial compression tests were conducted on an intact rock sample and a sample with a joint simplified to a plane using the parallel computing method.The results indicate that the mechanical characteristics and failure process of jointed rocks are significantly affected by the geometry of joints.The presence of joints reduces the uniaxial compressive strength (UCS),elastic modulus,and released acoustic emission (AE) energy of rocks by 37%–67%,21%–24%,and 52%–90%,respectively.Compared to the simplified joint sample,the proposed photogrammetry-based numerical model makes the most of the limited geometry information of joints.The UCS,accumulative released AE energy,and elastic modulus of the photogrammetry-based sample were found to be very close to those of the CT-based sample.The UCS value of the simplified joint sample (i.e.38.5 MPa) is much lower than that of the CT-based sample (i.e.72.3 MPa).Additionally,the accumulative released AE energy observed in the simplified joint sample is 3.899 times lower than that observed in the CT-based sample.CT scanning provides a reliable means to visualize the joints in rocks,which can be used to verify the reliability of photogrammetry techniques.The application of the photogrammetry-based sample enables detailed analysis for estimating the mechanical properties of jointed rocks.

Method for eliminating zero-order image in digital holography

For eliminating the zero-order image in digital holography, a new method using the differential of the hologram intensity instead of the hologram itself for numerical reconstruction is proposed. This method is based on digital image processing. By analyzing the spatial spectrum of the off-axis digital hologram, it theoretically proves that the zero-order image can be effectively eliminated by differential before reconstruction. Then, the detected hologram is processed in the program with differential and reconstruction. Both the theoretical analysis and digital reconstruction results show that it can effectively eliminate the large bright spot in the center of the reconstructed image caused by the zero-order image, improve the image quality significantly, and render a better contrast of the reconstructed image. This method is very simple and convenient due to no superfluous optical elements and requiring only one time record.

Measuring the Condition of Parking Lot by Image Processing

Aim To study the parking management in the condition of vehicles' increasing. Methods The methods of pattern recognition and image processing were used to analyze the eigenvalues of parking lot images. Results The automatic identification of every parking place in the parking plot was realized. The automatic measuring of parked vehicle count and parking lot utilization was completed. Conclusion It can complete the real time recognition, and has some practicabilities.

Application of Digital Image Analysis Method in Metric Screw Thread Metrology

This paper describes the use of computer-aided measurement for external metric screw threads. Thread parameters, including thread pitch, thread angle, pitch diameter and major diameter, were measured with CCD cameras and image analysis software. New technologies such as digital image processing were used to increase the efficiency of measurements. In this study, by reconstructing the toolmaker’s microscope, the computer-aided semi-automated measuring system was developed, which could evaluate the accuracy of screw thread profile. It is concluded that the measurement accuracy is comparable to that of traditional toolmaker’s microscope method. Key words screw threads - quality inspection - accuracy - digital image processing

Model heat source using actual distribution of laser power density for simulation of laser processing

The model of heat source(MHS) which reflects the thermal interaction between materials and laser during processing determines the accuracy of simulation results. To acquire desirable simulations results, although various modifications of heat sources in the aspect of absorption process of laser by materials have been purposed, the distribution of laser power density(DLPD) in MHS is still modeled theoretically. However, in the actual situations of laser processing, the DLPD is definitely different from the ideal models. So, it is indispensable to build MHS using actual DLPD to improve the accuracy of simulation results. Besides, an automatic modeling method will be benefit to simplify the tedious pre-processing of simulations. This paper presents a modeling method and corresponding algorithm to model heat source using measured DLPD. This algorithm automatically processes original data to get modeling parameters and provides a step MHS combining with absorption models. Simulations and experiments of heat transfer in steel plates irradiated by laser prove the mothed and the step MHS. Moreover, the investigations of laser induced thermal-crack propagation in glass highlight the signification of modeling heat source based on actual DLPD and demonstrate the enormous application of this method in the simulation of laser processing.

Digitalization Modeling System for Constitutive Relation of Geomaterial

A digital modeling system method is put forward for modeling constitutive relation of geomaterial including digital image subsystem for deformation measurement, numerical modeling subsystem and numerical simulation subsystem. A non-contact measurement method based on digital image processing is introduced to improve measurement of specimen deformation. Based on the method, a series of conventional tri-axial compression tests under diverse stress paths are done. Then an elasto-plastic constitutive model of soil is acquired through the numerical method of modeling constitutive law for geomaterial. Two examples of specimen deformation and ground subsidence are presented and discussed. It indicated that this method can rationally simulate the stress-strain relationship of soil, which reflects the effect of stress path on soil stress-strain relationship.

A convenient look-up-table based method for the compensation of non-linear error in digital fringe projection

Although the structured light system that uses digital fringe projection has been widely implemented in three-dimensional surface profile measurement, the measurement system is susceptible to non-linear error. In this work, we propose a convenient look-up-table-based （LUT-based） method to compensate for the non-linear error in captured fringe patterns. Without extra calibration, this LUT-based method completely utilizes the captured fringe pattern by recording the full-field differences. Then, a phase compensation map is established to revise the measured phase. Experimental results demonstrate that this method works effectively.

Dimensional Description of On-line Wear Debris Images for Wear Characterization

As one of the most wear monitoring indicator, dimensional feature of individual particles has been studied mostly focusing on off-line analytical ferrograph. Recent development in on-line wear monitoring with wear debris images shows that merely wear debris concentration has been extracted from on-line ferrograph images. It remains a bottleneck of obtaining the dimension of on-line particles due to the low resolution, high contamination and particle’s chain pattern of an on-line image sample. In this work, statistical dimension of wear debris in on-line ferrograph images is investigated. A two-step procedure is proposed as follows. First, an on-line ferrograph image is decomposed into four component images with different frequencies. By doing this, the size of each component image is reduced by one fourth, which will increase the efficiency of subsequent processing. The low-frequency image is used for extracting the area of wear debris, and the high-frequency image is adopted for extracting contour. Second, a statistical equivalent circle dimension is constructed by equaling the overall wear debris in the image into equivalent circles referring to the extracted total area and premeter of overall wear debris. The equivalent circle dimension, reflecting the statistical dimension of larger wear debris in an on-line image, is verified by manual measurement. Consequently, two preliminary applications are carried out in gasoline engine bench tests of durability and running-in. Evidently, the equivalent circle dimension, together with the previously developed concentration index, index of particle coverage area （IPCA）, show good performances in characterizing engine wear conditions. The proposed dimensional indicator provides a new statistical feature of on-line wear particles for on-line wear monitoring. The new dimensional feature conveys profound information about wear severity.

Fast matching pursuit for traffic images using differential evolution

To obtain the sparse decomposition and flexible representation of traffic images,this paper proposes a fast matching pursuit for traffic images using differential evolution. According to the structural features of traffic images,the introduced algorithm selects the image atoms in a fast and flexible way from an over-complete image dictionary to adaptively match the local structures of traffic images and therefore to implement the sparse decomposition. As compared with the traditional method and a genetic algorithm of matching pursuit by using extensive experiments,the differential evolution achieves much higher quality of traffic images with much less computational time,which indicates the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.