A methodology framework for retrieval of concrete surface crack′s

image properties based on hybrid model

In this paper manual vision inspection of concrete cracks has been reintroduced with
the addition of digital imaging and processing techniques, Computer vision-based
inspection.
This study presents a novel methodology framework for retrieval of multiple image
properties of concrete surface crack. The main contributions come from three
aspects:
(1) A new binarization method combining edge detecting and seed growing is
conducted to distinguish crack segments from background and other defects.
(2) A skeleton optimization procedure including a short branch deleting algorithm
and a polyline approximation algorithm is implemented for real crack property
retrieval.
(3) A hybrid crack model and a triad labelling method are proposed. Concrete cracks
are divided into disc-shaped and bar-shaped parts. Crack properties including
center, radius of disc-shaped cracks, and length, width of bar-shaped cracks are
retrieved and the interrelationships between different crack segments are identified
by triad labelling method.
A new binarization method combining edge detection and seed growing is proposed
for crack segmentation. There were some small black regions (holes) inside the crack
and some thin burrs where the number of 8-connected neighbor points is less than
or equal to three. Which can be quickly repair these defects by calling MATLAB
functions. Based on the above discussion a hybrid model associating disc model and
bar model is proposed for retrieving more properties of concrete crack. The crack
surrounding a cross-point is called discshaped crack, while others are called bar-
shaped crack in the following.
Three commonly used binarization methods selected for comparison with our
method are Otsu method, Iterative thresholding method and Niblack′s method.
Among them, Otsu method doesn′t need to preset any threshold, Iterative
thresholding method needs to give one threshold to control iterations, and Niblack′s
method needs two predetermined thresholds, i.e. the size of sub-window, and one
coefficient. The proposed one needs five thresholds. All the predetermined and
subsequently calculated threshold values.