A Technique for Pattern Recognition of Concrete Surface Cracks

This study proposes a technique for the recognition of crack patterns, which includes horizontal, vertical, diagonal(), diagonal(), and random cracks, based on image processing technique and artificial neural network. A MATLAB code was developed for the proposed image processing algorithm and artificial neural network. Features were determined using total projection technique, and the structure(no. of layers and hidden neurons) and weight of artificial neural network were determined by learning from artificial crack images. In this process, we adopted Bayesian regularization technique as a generalization method to eliminate overfitting Problem. Numerical tests were performed on thirty-eight crack images to examine validity of the algorithm. Within the limited tests in the present study, the proposed algorithm was revealed as accurately recognizing the crack patterns when compared to those classified by a human expert.