Using Computer Vision for Monitoring the Quality of 3D-Printed Concrete Structures

Shanmugaraj Senthilnathan and Benny Raphael ()
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Shanmugaraj Senthilnathan: Civil Engineering Department, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai 600036, India
Benny Raphael: Civil Engineering Department, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai 600036, India

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 23, 1-21

Abstract: Concrete 3D printing has the potential to reduce material and process waste in construction. Thus, it contributes to making the construction industry more sustainable through the use of digital-fabrication technologies. While concrete 3D printing is attractive due to its potential to realize complex designs, practical challenges include an increased chance of defects and deformities. Quality assessment of 3D-printed elements is essential for large-scale implementation. Workability of concrete is known to decrease with printing time and it impacts extrudability. It is usually visible in 3D-printed elements, with the lower layers having a smooth finish, while the top layers have cracks and discontinuities. A computer-vision-based quality assessment method is proposed in this paper using a two-bin Linear Binary Pattern textural analysis. Information entropy is used as the metric for measuring the texture variation within each layer and its changes over the layers are studied. A higher entropy value is found for layers having deformities. Finally, through the error-minimization technique, a threshold entropy value is calculated and, using this, the printed layers can be assessed and corrective actions taken. This paper contributes to developing a non-intrusive quality assessment technique for concrete 3D-printed elements.

Keywords: concrete 3D printing; computer vision; linear binary patterns; entropy; surface defects (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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