1 Hyperspectral Imaging Features for Mortar Classification and Compressive Strength

2 Assessment

3 Liang Fan 1, Ming Fan 2, Abdullah Alhaj 1, Genda Chen 1,* and Hongyan Ma 1
1
4 Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering, Missouri University
5 of Science and Technology, Rolla, MO 65401, United States; lf7h2@mst.edu;
6 ahanbc@mst.edu; mahon@mst.edu
2
7 Department of Mining and Minerals Engineering, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and
8 State University, Blacksburg, VA 24060; mingfan@vt.edu
9 * Correspondence: gchen@mst.edu; Tel.: +01-573-341-4462

10 Abstract: In this study, hyperspectral imagery with two computational algorithms are
11 proposed to classify the type of mortar and assess the in-situ strength of fresh mortar in near
12 real time. Each scanning on a mortar surface includes 30 spatial pixels selected for analysis,
13 each assigned with a light reflectance spectrum over 400 - 2500 nm. Three groups of mortar
14 samples with a water-to-cement (W/C) ratio of 0.6, 0.5 and 0.4, respectively, were cast and
15 scanned from Day 1 to 14 of curing. Reflectance data at a wavelength range of 1920 nm to
16 1980 nm, associated with the O-H chemical bond, were extracted and averaged to classify
17 the different mortar types with K-Nearest Neighbors (KNN) and Support Vector Machine
18 (SVM) algorithms and to predict their compressive strength from a regression equation. The
19 results showed that the average reflectance increased with time due to water molecules
20 reaction during curing process. The KNN classification model with K=5 had a prediction
21 accuracy of 70% to 75%, and the SVM classification model with C=1000 and σ=10 showed
22 a prediction accuracy of approximately 90%. Therefore, the SVM classification algorithm
23 is recommended for use in mortar classification. The compressive strength is well correlated
24 with the average reflectance with a coefficient of over 0.98.

25 Keywords: Hyperspectral imaging; W/C ratio; reflectance; KNN; SVM; compressive

26 strength
27

28 1. Introduction

29 Concrete is a mixture of aggregate, sand, cement and water in a certain proportion. The
30 cement and water together, referred to as cement paste, hardens through hydration reactions
31 and binds the aggregate and sand to achieve the strength of concrete in a curing process over
32 time [1]. Concrete hydration process starts immediately after concrete casting. Cement reacts
33 with water to generate hydration products like C-S-H gel and calcium hydroxide. The
34 hydration products grow, interconnect, and bond aggregate and sand. Concrete is formless
35 and shaped to various forms of interest, when newly mixed, and durable, when cured and
36 hardened. In the construction of highway pavements, ACI Code 301-72 requires a minimum
37 of curing period for concrete pavement to ensure that the constructed roadway is safe to
38 traffic without damage [2]. In the repair and resurface of existing roadways and their
39 transportation network in an urban environment, it is imperative to determine the early-age
40 strength of concrete pavements so that the impact of roadway construction on traffic is
41 minimized.
42 Coring and pullout test are two of the conventional approaches that have been used for
43 on-site evaluation of the compressive strength of concrete. With the coring method, concrete
44 cores are acquired by drilling a concrete structure at selected locations, and tested for their
45 compressive strength [3]. During the pullout test, a metal disk is attached to the concrete
46 surface with super glue. After a short curing period, the metal disk is pulled perpendicularly
47 off the surface and the pullout force can be used to calculate the compressive strength of the
48 concrete structure [4]. The pullout force can be related to the compressive strength of
49 concrete based on a pre-determined calibration curve. Both the coring and pullout test are
50 destructive, potentially compromising the integrity of concrete structures.
51 Nondestructive approaches such as the maturity method and the ultrasonic pulse velocity
52 (UPV) have also been used to determine the compressive strength of concrete. The maturity
53 method allows the estimate of early-age compressive strength of in-place concrete in real
54 time. A maturity index as a function of curing time and temperature is determined according
55 to the ASTM C1074 Standards [5]. In applications, a reference strength-maturity curve must
56 be developed for each project-specific material in advance. With the UPV method, the
57 velocity of an ultrasonic pulse that travels through concrete is measured and converted to the
58 strength of concrete based on their pre-determined calibration curve [6]. The field application
59 of this method is limited due to the effects of voids, cracks and steel bars.
60 Hyperspectral imagery has been used to assess various conditions of concrete by imaging
61 a concrete surface and analyzing the light reflectance as a function of wavelength for each
62 pixel in an image. Such a reflectance-wavelength spectrum can be divided into many narrow
63 and continuous wavelength bands for their correlation to specific materials on the concrete
64 surface [7]. By analyzing the change of reflectance values at these prominent bands, different
65 materials can be discriminated and classified. For instance, dark gray, light gray and
66 dolomitic limestone were distinguished in the selection of Portland cement clinkers based on
 67 the reflectance variations of carbonate (CO3) and Al-OH in wavelength ranges of 2125–2400
68 nm and 2170–2250 nm, respectively [8]. The carbonation degradation depth of concrete was
69 estimated from reflectance values at a wavelength of 440 nm, 1500 nm, and 2340 nm [9].
70 The total chloride content in mortar specimens was linearly related to the reflectance at a
71 wavelength of approximately 2260 nm [10]. The status of concrete (hydration, curing and
72 hardening) was determined by constructing a logistic regression model with reflectance
73 spectra [11].
74 In the past decade, hyperspectral imaging has also been used to estimate the compressive
75 strength of concrete. For example, a partial least square regression model was developed to
76 establish the relation between concrete strength (7, 14 and 28 days) and its corresponding
77 reflectance over the entire wavelength range [12]. The reflectance spectrum of eight concrete
78 samples with various W/C ratios and curing ages moved upward with an increase of
79 compression strength [13]. In both studies, the mix designs of concrete were not introduced
80 and the relation between the compression strength and the reflectance at a characteristic
81 wavelength range was not clearly interpreted. Three groups of 28-day cured concrete
82 specimens with a W/C ratio of 0.5, 0.65 and 0.8 were differentiable by comparing absorbance
83 values (complimentary to reflectance) in a wavelength range of 1940-1970 nm [14]. In that
84 study, the relation between absorbance and compression strength was not discussed.
85 The ultimate goal of this study is to rapidly classify the type of concrete with various
86 W/C ratios in pavement construction of highways through hyperspectral imaging from an
87 unmanned aerial vehicle, and determine the early-age compressive strength of concrete
88 pavements from light reflectance spectra. The focus of this paper is to develop a dataset with
89 light reflectance and its corresponding compressive strength of mortar of various types, a
90 classification model for mortar type, and a regression curve of reflectance versus compressive
91 strength corresponding to a specific mortar type. Specifically, three groups of mortar cuboid
92 samples with a W/C ratio of 0.4, 0.5 and 0.6 were cast. For each group, five mortar samples
93 were tested for compressive strength after 1, 3, 5 7, 9, 11, 13, or 14 days of curing. Another
94 nine samples were scanned using a hyperspectral camera from Day 1 to 14. A large set of
95 reflectance data were extracted from the scanned images and used to train Nearest Neighbors
96 (KNN) and Support Vector Machine (SVM) classifiers for discrimination of three mortar
97 types. The compressive strength of each type of mortar samples was measured corresponding
98 to the hyperspectral imaging schedule and related to the light reflectance by an exponential
99 regression model developed.
100
101 2. Experiment Setup

102 2.1. Sample preparation

103 Three types of mortar samples were prepared and designated as C1, C2, and C3 in Table
104 1. They are a mixture of water, ordinary Portland cement and Missouri river sand with a
105 W/C/Sand weight ratio of 0.194/0.324/1.0, 0.182/0.364/1.0, and 0.165/0.415/1.0, or a W/C
106 ratio of 0.6, 0.5, and 0.4, respectively. Type I Portland cement was used as detailed in Table
107 2 for its chemical composition. The Missouri river sand used had the maximum particle size
108 of 4.75 mm, a specific gravity of 2.64, and a fineness modulus of 2.71. Freshly mixed mortar
109 was poured into standard cubic steel molds that are 50 mm × 50 mm × 50 mm in size. After
110 casting, the specimens were covered with wet burlaps and plastic sheets to prevent surface
111 cracking due to shrinkage. After 24 hours of curing, they were demolded for compressive
112 tests and hyperspectral scanning. For each type of mortar mixture, compressive tests of 40
113 samples were conducted according to the ASTM Standard C39 [15], 5 samples tested after
114 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, and 14 days of curing and hardening. All the samples were cured in air
115 with a temperature of 23 ± 1.7 °C and a relative humidity (RH) of 50 ± 5%. Hyperspectral
116 scanning on 9 samples with each mortar mixture was conducted continuously for 13 days
117 from the end of 1st day to 14th day of curing and hardening. For each cuboid sample, only
118 the four vertical side surfaces were scanned since the horizontal top surface was relatively
119 uneven. In addition, the top surface had a thin layer of cement paste due to water bleeding
120 during mortar settlement, which made its composition different from the side surfaces [16].

121 Table 1. Mix proportions of three types of mortar samples by weight (kg/m3)

Types of mortar samples C1 C2 C3

Water 288 270 245

Ordinary Portland cement 480 540 615

Missouri river sand 1482 1482 1482

122 Table 2. Mass percentage (%) of oxides in cement

SiO2 CaO Al2O3 Fe2O3 MgO SO3 Loss of ignition

19.8 64.2 4.5 3.2 2.7 3.4 2.6

123
124 2.2. Hyperspectral scanning

125 A wideband hyperspectral camera (Headwall Hyperspec VNIR-SWIR dual sensor) was
126 used to scan the mortar samples. The co-aligned VNIR-SWIR sensor has a broad wavelength
127 range of 400 - 2500 nm. The VNIR sensor has a spectral range of 400-1000 nm with 2.2 nm
128 in spectral resolution and the SWIR sensor has a spectral range of 900-2500 nm with 6 nm
129 in spectral resolution. Figure 1 shows the experimental setup of a cuboid mortar sample. A
130 light source (LED illumination) was set at 0.5 m away from the mortar sample and lit the
131 sample from one side (left in the photo). The hyperspectral camera was set right in front of
132 the mortar sample at 1.2 m standoff distance from the front vertical side of the mortar sample
133 for better resolution of near-distance imaging. The camera was installed on a tripod, both
134 connected to a laptop installed with Hyperspec III software to control the camera’s rotation
135 (±5°) in the horizontal plane and collect images continuously. A grey tarp was set right behind
136 the mortar sample as a reference.
137

138
139 Figure 1. Test setup of a cuboid mortar sample with illumination light, a hyperspectral
140 camera, a laptop computer, and a grey tarp.

141 Prior to each sample scanning, the hyperspectral camera was calibrated through the
142 collection and processing of dark and white reference data. Measuring electric current in the
143 camera system, the dark reference was collected with the camera lens covered, and deducted
144 from any scanned image to cleanse noise. The white reference was used to get a white balance
145 to enhance imaging quality. It was collected by aiming the camera lens at the grey tarp with
146 a reflectance of 32%. The grey tarp was chosen in this study since its color was close to that
147 of the mortar samples. Frame period and exposure time were adjusted to ensure that 60% of
148 the saturated light intensity was detected by using the grey tarp since a lack of light intensity
149 can generate too many bad pixels to correct mathematically. The rotation angle was adjusted
150 so that the camera can scan the mortar surface area of interest at a fixed standoff distance of
151 1.2 m. The rotation speed of the camera was also adjusted until no distorted shapes or forms
152 were seen in the captured image.
153 At the completion of each sample scanning, the scanned data files were transferred from
154 the camera (480 GB solid-state drive) to the laptop computer. SpectralView software was
155 then used to extract the reflectance spectrum for each pixel in the image by:
𝑅𝑎𝑤−𝐷𝑎𝑟𝑘
Calibrated Reflectance = 𝑊ℎ𝑖𝑡𝑒−𝐷𝑎𝑟𝑘
× 𝑊ℎ𝑖𝑡𝑒 𝑅𝑒𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑅𝑒𝑓𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 C𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑏𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 (1)
156 where Raw is the raw reflectance spectrum without processing, Dark means the dark
157 reference spectrum, White means the white reference spectrum, and White Reference
158 Reflectance Calibration denotes the maximum reflectance of white reference spectrum to
159 ensure no saturation in measurement. The software SpectralView automatically calculates
160 the normalized reflectance using the dark/white reference spectra.

161 2.3 Data classification techniques

162 Two classification models with KNN and SVM algorithms were established to
163 distinguish various types (W/C ratios) of mortar samples from the reflectance dataset as
164 shown in Figure 2. The reflectance dataset is a group of data with each datum showing a
165 reflectance value and its corresponding class label (W/C ratio). In this study, 80% of the
166 reflectance data were used for training and the remaining 20% were used for testing of the
167 classification models. Both KNN and SVM algorithms were trained in Python to construct
168 the classification models. The established classification models were then used to predict the
169 label (Class A, Class B or Class C) for a W/C ratio of 0.6, 0.5, or 0.4 given a test example of
170 known reflectance value.

171
172 Figure 2. Reflectance data classification using classification algorithms.

173 2.3.1 KNN

174 The KNN algorithm computes the proximity of a test example z to K data points in the
175 training set, which are closest to z. The test example is classified based on the majority class
176 label of its K nearest neighbors [17]. Weights are assigned to the contributions of the
177 neighbors so that the impact of data depends on their distances to the test example. Choosing
178 the right parameter K is important to ensure a better accuracy in classification. A small K can
179 result in overfitting due to noise in the training data, whereas a large K can lead to
180 misclassification because the nearest neighbors may include data that are located far away
181 from its neighborhood [17].

182 2.3.2 SVM

183 The SVM algorithm creates a line in two-dimensional planes, a plane in three-
184 dimensional spaces, or more generally a hyperplane to divide the data into several classes
185 [18]. Support vectors are the data points nearest to the hyperplane. The distance between the
186 hyperplane and the nearest data is called margin [18]. The goal of SVM is to choose a
187 hyperplane with the maximum margin. To briefly describe the SVM technique, a linear
188 classifier is introduced first and then extended to the nonlinear classifier. Next, the maximum
189 margin of a hyperplane is described.

190 Linear classifier is used to find a line or a plane (hyperplane) to separate dataset

191 {𝐱 𝑖 , 𝑦𝑖 }𝑛𝑖=1 into two classes. Here, 𝐱 𝑖 is the 𝑖 𝑡ℎ vector in the given dataset, 𝑦𝑖 is the label

192 associated with 𝐱 𝑖 . The hyperplane is defined as [18]:

𝑓(𝐱) = 𝐰𝐱 + 𝑏 = 0, 𝐰𝐱 = ∑ 𝑤𝑖 𝑥𝑖 (2)
𝑖

193 where w is a weight vector, and b is a bias. As illustrated in Figure 3 for the case of two-

194 dimensional plane x1x2, f(x) =0 is a line that divides the entire dataset into two classes: f(x)

195 >0 and f(x) <0.

196
197 Figure 3. A linear classifier with maximum margins that divides the data into two sets.
198
199 When the data cannot be separated by a linear classifier, they can be mapped to a higher

200 dimension and converted to linearly separable data through a projection function 𝜑 [18, 19].

201 The classifier then becomes:

𝑓(𝐱) = 𝐰𝜑(𝐱) + 𝑏 (3)

202 As the high-dimensional projection function is complicated to compute, this classifier is

203 projected back to the original dimension through a transformation known as the kernel

204 function. In this case, the weight vector can be expressed into a linear combination of the

205 training data [18]:

𝑛
𝐰=∑ 𝛼𝑖 𝜑(𝐱 𝑖 ) (4)
𝑖=1

206 where 𝛼𝑖 is the coefficient related to a decision boundary. The kernel function is defined as

207 [18]:

𝑘(𝐱 𝑖 , 𝐱) = 𝜑(𝐱 𝑖 )𝜑(𝐱) (5)

208 The classifier then transforms to:

𝑓(𝐱) = ∑𝑛𝑖=1 𝛼𝑖 𝜑(𝐱 𝑖 )𝜑(𝐱) + 𝑏 = ∑𝑛𝑖=1 𝛼𝑖 𝑘(𝐱 𝑖 , 𝐱) + 𝑏 (6)

209 Two kernels are widely used in the literature for various applications: polynomial kernel and

210 Gaussian kernel. A polynomial kernel is defined as [18]:

𝑘(𝐱 𝑖 , 𝐱) = (𝐱𝐱𝑖 + 1)𝑑 (7)

211 A Gaussian kernel is defined as [18, 19]:

‖𝐱−𝐱 𝑖 ‖𝟐 (8)
𝑘(𝐱 𝑖 , 𝐱) = exp (− )
2𝜎 2

212 where d is the degree of polynomial kernel and σ is a parameter that controls the width of

213 Gaussian kernel. Both parameters control the flexibility of the classifier. When σ is increased,

214 a greater curvature is introduced to the decision boundary but overfitting will occur if σ is

215 too large.

216 SVM looks for a higher margin to get a better classification result for the testing data.

217 The margin of a hyperplane f (x) is defined as:

 1 (9)
𝑚(𝑓) =
‖𝐰‖

218 As indicated in Equation (9), to maximize the margin of the classifier is equivalent to

219 minimize‖𝐰‖2 . The maximum margins are the margins that push up against the support

220 vectors. To ensure that the linearly-separable data are classified correctly, the maximum

221 margin and its constraint are defined as [18, 19]:

1 (10)
Minimize ‖𝐰‖2
2

Subject to: 𝑦𝑖 (𝐰𝐱 + 𝑏) ≥ 1 𝑖 = 1, … , 𝑛. (11)

222 When the data are not completely separable, the constraint is relaxed and a greater margin

223 can be achieved by [18, 19]:

1 (12)
Minimize ‖𝐰‖2 + 𝐶 ∑𝑛𝑖=1 𝜉𝑖
2

Subject to: 𝑦𝑖 (𝐰𝑥 + 𝑏) ≥ 1 − 𝜉𝑖 (13)

224 where 𝜉𝑖 (0≤ 𝜉𝑖 ≤ 1) is the margin error that allows an example to be in the margin and C

225 is the penalty that lowers the misclassification rate. When C is increased, a smaller margin

226 error is achieved. C needs to be adjusted to ensure the maximum margin with a minimum

227 margin error [18, 19].

228 3. Results and Discussion

229 3.1. Hyperspectral information

230 Figure 4 shows the raw hyperspectral image of one mortar specimen, the image after
231 subtraction of dark reference, and the image after dark and white reference deductions. The
232 sensor current measured from the dark reference can induce perturbation and generate a noisy
233 and drifted spectrum. The white reference can rectify illumination non-uniformity and non-
234 flatness of a spectrum. Removal of the dark reference and the white reference can correct
235 the image and produce right reflectance spectra. For each type of mortar, 9 cuboid samples
236 were prepared, 4 side faces of each sample were scanned, and 30 spectra were extracted over
237 a 50 mm × 50 mm side surface area, totaling 1080 spectra for each scanning day. The spectra
238 were collected from the flat surface area only to avoid any non-uniform illumination from
239 uneven spots.

(a) (b) (c)

240 Figure 4. Hyperspectral image of a mortar specimen: (a) raw, (b) after subtraction of dark

241 reference, and (c) after dark and white reference deduction.

242 Figure 5 shows the average reflectance spectra of samples with three different W/C ratios
243 over a period of 14 days. Each line represents the average reflectance spectrum of 1080
244 spectra in the wavelength range of 1200 nm to 2400 nm. The average spectra can reduce
245 potential biases and are more representative of the scanning surface. As seen in Figure 5, the
246 reflectance value on the average spectra rapidly ascends from Day 1 to Day 3 and then
247 gradually increased till Day 14 of test. After 1 day of testing, the samples were scanned after
248 they were demolded and put in air at the room temperature for 1 hour. The higher moisture
249 content on the sample surface resulted in the lower reflectance value due to water absorption.
250 The rapid increase of reflectance from Day 1 to Day 3 is because the hydration process during
251 this period rapidly consumes more water compared with that at a later stage.

(a) 0.12 Day 1 Day 3 Day 5 Day 7

0.11 Day 9 Day 11 Day 13 Day 14
0.1
Reflectance (R)

0.09
0.08
0.07
0.06
0.05
0.04
1200 1400 1600 1800 2000 2200 2400
252 Wavelength (nm)
 (b) 0.12 Day 1 Day 3 Day 5 Day 7
0.11 Day 9 Day 11 Day 13 Day 14

0.1
Reflectance (R)
0.09
0.08
0.07
0.06
0.05
0.04
1200 1400 1600 1800 2000 2200 2400
253 Wavelength (nm)

0.12
(c) Day 1 Day 3 Day 5 Day 7
0.11 Day 9 Day 11 Day 13 Day 14

0.1
Reflectance (R)

0.09

0.08

0.07

0.06
1200 1400 1600 1800 2000 2200 2400
Wavelength (nm)
254
255 Figure 5. The average reflectance spectra over a wavelength of 1200 nm to 2400 nm for

256 samples with a W/C ratio of: (a) 0.6, (b) 0.5, and (c) 0.4.

257 When shot on the surface of materials, some of the incident light leads to vibration of
258 molecules and is absorbed by the chemical bond between atoms in the molecules. In the Near
259 Infrared Region (NIR) (from 780 nm to 2500 nm), higher vibrational energy is acquired to
260 absorb the light, which stimulates the overtones and combinations of fundamental vibrations
261 [20, 21]. Basically, overtones and combinations of the vibrations of C-H, O-H, N-H, and S-
262 H chemical bonds dominate NIR spectroscopy with each chemical bond corresponding to a
263 wavelength region for light absorbance [21]. The combination of OH and H2O corresponds
264 to the region of 1900 nm to 2000 nm [21-24], which is of particular interest in this study. The
265 reflectance change in this wavelength range can be used to track the change of H2O molecules
266 due to hydration consumption in the process of mortar curing. The reflectance values over
267 the wavelength range of 1920 nm to 1980 nm as shown in the marked red circles in Figure 5
268 are averaged and defined as dR (1920-1980). The average reflectance dR (1920-1980) with
269 an error bar of ± one standard deviation for three types of mortar over the curing period of
270 14 days are plotted in Figure 6. Logarithmic regression was conducted to fit into the
271 experimental data for the three types of mortar. R2 value for each type of mortar is higher
272 than 90%, indicating good fitting of the regression curve. The overall reflectance during the
273 14 days shows an increasing trend when the W/C ratio is reduced from 0.6 to 0.4 since the
274 mortar with lower W/C ratio has less water content. For each type of mortar, the average
275 reflectance increases because water is reacted and reduced during the hydration process. As
276 less water is left on the sample surface, less light is absorbed by water molecules and
277 reflectance of the light is increased. Therefore, the regression curve can be used to predict
278 the curing process for mortar samples.
(a) 0.12 (b) 0.12
0.1 0.1
Average reflectance
Average reflectance

dA (1920-1980)
dA (1920-1980)

0.08 0.08 y = 0.011ln(x) + 0.07

y = 0.007ln(x) + 0.07 R² = 0.93
0.06 R² = 0.92 0.06

0.04 0.04

0.02 0.02
W/C=0.6 W/C=0.5
0 0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
Curing Time (Day) Curing Time (Day)

(c) 0.12
0.1
Average reflectance
dA (1920-1980)

0.08 y = 0.007ln(x) + 0.09

R² = 0.91
0.06
0.04
0.02

0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
Curing Time (Day)

279 Figure 6. The average reflectance dR (1920-1980) over a curing period of 14 days for
280 samples with W/C ratios of: (a) 0.6, (b) 0.5, and (c) 0.4.

281 3.2 Classification results with KNN and SVM

282 Both KNN and SVM algorithms were used to first establish classification models with
283 the training data, and then predict classification labels for the test data. In the KNN algorithm,
284 the parameter K varied from 1 to 40 in model training. Its corresponding prediction
285 accuracies after 1, 4, 7, and 13 days of testing are presented in Figure 7. In this study, accuracy
286 is defined by the relative difference in percentage between the number of correct predictions
287 and the number of actual test data. It is observed that K = 5 yields the highest prediction
288 accuracy for Day 1, Day 7, and Day 13, and K = 6 provides the highest accuracy for Day 4.
289 Overall, K = 5 is chosen for the KNN classification model. Figure 8 shows the predicted
290 classifications after 1, 7, and 13 day of testing with K = 5 and after 4 day of testing with K =
291 6. In Figure 8, ‘True’ represents the test data and ‘Pred’ symbolizes the prediction data with
292 the trained KNN classification model. The predicted classification (yellow triangles) and the
293 actual classification (blue squares) are in general agreement.
80
Day 1
75 Day 4
Day 7
70 Day 13
Accuracy (%)

65

60

55

50

45
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
294 K value

295 Figure 7. Prediction accuracies as a function of K after 1, 4, 7, and 13 day of testing.

296
(a) (b)
 (c) (d)

297 Figure 8. Classification predictions after (a) 1, (b) 4, (c) 7, and (d) 13 day of testing.

298 To test the applicability of parameter K, K=5 is applied to predict the classifications of

299 the test data after 2, 5, 8, and 14 day of testing, and the predicted classifications are compared

300 in Figure 9 with their actual classifications. It can be seen from Figure 9 that the predictions

301 are in good agreement with the actual classifications. Specifically, the prediction accuracies

302 during the 4 days of testing range from 70% to 75% as shown in Figure 10, which falls into

303 the same range of accuracies achieved after 1, 4, 7, and 13 day of testing. This comparison

304 indicates that K = 5 is the best fit for the KNN model. Due to low prediction accuracies (<

305 75%) for the KNN model, the SVM algorithm is attempted to improve the prediction

306 accuracy for mortar classification.

(a) (b)
 (c) (d)

307 Figure 9. Classification predictions with K = 5 after (a) 2, (b) 5, (c) 8, and (d) 14 day of

308 testing.

100

80
Accuracy (%)

60

40

20

0
Day 2 Day 5 Day 8 Day 14
309

310 Figure 10. Prediction accuracies with K = 5 after 2, 5, 8, and 14 day of testing.

311 In this study, the average reflectance dR(1920-1980 nm) and its corresponding Min-Max

312 normalized reflectance calculated from Equation (14) forms two features in x1-x2 plane. The

313 representative training data in the feature plane after 13 day of testing are presented in Figure

314 11. It can be seen that the three classes of training data are mainly distributed along three

315 straight lines due to the correlation of two features selected. The relatively low reflectance

316 for a w/c ratio of 0.6 can be easily separated from the other classes using a linear separator.

317 However, the two straight lines representing the feature data in other two classes are crossed

318 each other, making it impossible to separate them directly with a linear classifier. Therefore,

319 a nonlinear classifier with the Gaussian kernel and a relaxed constraint were used to obtain a

320 high prediction accuracy of the classification model.

 dR (1920−1980) −Min.
321 Min-Max normalized reflectance= × 100% (14)
Max.−Min.

322 where Min. and Max. represent the minimum reflectance and the maximum reflectance of

323 the whole data set during each test day, respectively. dR (1920 − 1980) represents the

324 average reflectance over a wavelength range of 1920 nm to 1980 nm, corresponding to each

325 datum used in the dataset.

326

327 Figure 11. Training data in the feature plane after 13 day of testing.

328 To improve the accuracy of classification predication, the hyperparameters C and σ in

329 the SVM model were first tuned. Figure 12 shows the prediction accuracies after 1, 4, 7, and

330 13 day of testing when C is examined from 10-2 to 103 and σ is tested from 10-3 to 10. It can

331 be observed from Figure 12 that C=103 and σ=10 yield the highest prediction accuracies of

332 94.5%, 89.9%, 95%, and 87.4% after 1, 4, 7, and 13 day of testing, respectively. The

333 predicted classifications from the SVM model are compared in Figure 13 with the actual

334 classifications displayed when C = 103 and σ = 10. Compared with the classification results

335 in Figures 8 and 9 predicted from the KNN model, the overlapped range between the

336 predicted data and test data in Figure 12 is enlarged with a higher accuracy. Therefore, C =

337 103 and σ = 10 are chosen for the SVM classification model.
 (a) (b)

(c) (d)

338 Figure 12. Prediction accuracies as a function of C and σ in the logarithmic format after (a)

339 1, (b) 4, (c) 7, and (d) 13 day of testing.

340
(a) (b)
 (d)
(c)

341 Figure 13. Classification predictions of the test data after (a) 1 , (b) 4 , (c) 7 , and (d) 13 day

342 of testing with C = 103 and σ = 10.

343

344 To evaluate their applicability, the two hyperparameters C = 103 and σ = 10 are applied

345 to the test data collected after 2, 5, 8, and 14 day of testing. The predicted results are compared

346 in Figure 14 with their actual classifications. Figure 15 shows 93.4%, 92.9%, 93.0%, and

347 92.5% prediction accuracies after 2, 5, 8, and 14 day of testing, respectively. Therefore, C =

348 103 and σ = 10 in the SVM model are appropriate for the classification of mortar.

(a) (b)
 (c) (d)

349 Figure 14. Classification predictions with C = 103 and σ = 10 after (a) 2, (b) 5, (c) 8, and (d)

350 14 day of testing.

100

80
Accuracy (%)

60

40

20

0
Day 2 Day 5 Day 8 Day 14
351
352 Figure 15. Prediction accuracies with C = 103 and σ = 10 after 2, 5, 8, and 14 day of testing.

353 3.3 Relation between average reflectance and compressive strength of mortar samples

354 For each W/C ratio, five mortar samples were tested in compression after 1, 3, 5, 7, 9,

355 11, 13, and 14 day of curing, following the ASTM C39 Guideline. The average and standard

356 deviation of the five compressive strengths of mortar for each testing day were determined.

357 The average strength with an error bar of ± one standard deviation is displayed in Figure 16

358 as a function of the curing day. Overall, the compressive strength of mortar decreases with

359 the increase of W/C ratio. For each W/C ratio, the compressive strength increases

360 logarithmically with the curing time. The short error bars in Figure 16 indicate consistent

361 data obtained from the compressive tests.

 50
0.6

Compression strength (MPa)

0.5 y = 13.4ln(x) + 10.1
40 0.4 R² = 0.99

30
y = 10.1ln(x) + 4.7
20 R² = 0.98
y = 11.2ln(x) + 6.6
10 R² = 0.99

0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
Curing time (Day)
362
363 Figure 16. Compressive strengths of mortar samples with W/C ratios of 0.6, 0.5, and 0.4.

364 After 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, and 14 day of curing, both the compressive strength and the

365 average reflectance dA (1920-1980) were obtained. Their correlations for W/C ratios of 0.6,

366 0.5, and 0.4 are drawn in Figure 17. Exponential regression of the test data was conducted

367 for each W/C ratio with R2 larger than 90%. These relations indicate that the average

368 reflectance can be used to predict the compressive strength of mortar. Such relationships can

369 potentially be applied to predict the strength of early-age concrete pavement in practice.

(a) 40 (b) 40
Compression Stregnth
Compression Stregnth

30 30 y = 0.214e51x
R² = 0.98
y = 0.041e79x
(MPa)
(MPa)

20 R² = 0.99 20

10 10
W/C=0.6
0 W/C=0.5
0
0.04 0.08 0.12 0.04 0.08 0.12
Average Reflenctance Average Reflenctance
dA (1920-1980) dA (1920-1980)
 (c) 50

40

Compression Stregnth
y = 0.045e66x
R² = 0.99
30

(MPa)
20

10
W/C=0.4
0
0.04 0.08 0.12
Average Reflenctance
dA (1920-1980)

370 Figure 17. Average reflectance dA (1920-1980) versus the compressive strength of mortar
371 with a W/C ratio of: (a) 0.6, (b) 0.5, and (c) 0.4 over 14 days.

372 3.4 Further work

373 Concrete samples with a wide range of mixture designs will be scanned with
374 hyperspectral camera. The SVM classification model will be kept updated and improved with
375 the reflectance data extracted from newly scanned concrete samples. The reflectance dataset
376 needs to be enlarged to include as many types of concrete as possible. Field test will be
377 conducted with hyperspectral camera installed on UAV to establish a similar correlation
378 between reflectance and compressive strength under actual in-situ conditions.

379 4. Conclusions

380 This study utilized a hyperspectral camera to scan the surface of mortar samples and
381 extract the reflectance data for the classification of different types of mortar and the
382 prediction of their compressive strength. Based on experimental data, regression analysis,
383 and classification results, the following conclusions can be drawn:
384 • The reflectance spectra over a wavelength range of 1200 nm to 2400 nm are
385 consistently shifted upward as mortar samples are cured and hardened over time. In
386 particular, the average reflectance in 1920-1980 nm wavelength increases
387 logarithmically with time because water molecules on each sample surface are
388 gradually reacted during the hydration process. As the water content of mortar is
389 reduced, less light is absorbed and more light is reflected. The average reflectance
390 can be accurately predicted from the curing time with their correlation coefficient
391 of over 0.9.
392 • The KNN classification model with K=5 represents the best fit to the test data taken
393 from mortar samples with a W/C ratio of 0.4 to 0.6. The classification (W/C ratio)
394 prediction accuracies are in the range of 70% to 75%. The SVM classification model
395 with C=103 and σ=10 are the best fit to the test data with a prediction accuracy of
396 approximately 90%. Thus, the SVM classification model is recommended to
397 classify various types of mortar.
398 • The compressive strength of mortar can be exponentially related to the average
399 reflectance in 1920-1980 nm wavelength with a correlation coefficient of over 0.95.
400 With this strong exponential relation, hyperspectral imaging can be used as a rapid
401 and nondestructive evaluation tool to predict the compressive strength of mortar.
402 With further studies on concrete specimens, hyperspectral imaging is promising for
403 the prediction of early-age strength of concrete pavement in practical applications.

404 Author Contributions: Conceptualization, L.F., G. C. and H. M.; methodology, L.F. and
405 M.F.; validation, L.F. M.F. and G. C.; formal analysis, L.F. and M.F.; investigation, L.F.,
406 M.F. and A.A.; resources, G. C.; data curation, L.F. and M.F.; writing—original draft
407 preparation, L.F. and M.F.; writing—review and editing, L.F., M.F. and G.C.; visualization,
408 L.F., M.F. and G.C.; supervision, G.C.; project administration, G.C.; funding acquisition,
409 G.C. In general, the first two authors contributed equally to the preparation of this paper.

410 Funding: Financial support to complete this study was provided by the U.S. Department of
411 Transportation, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology (OST-R)
412 under the Auspices of the INSPIRE University Transportation Center under Grant No.
413 69A3551747126 at Missouri University of Science and Technology. The findings and
414 opinions expressed in this paper are solely those of the authors and do not represent the
415 official policy or position of the USDOT/OST-R, or any State or other entity.

416 Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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