Visual analysis for microscopic cracking propagation of rubberized concrete

Abstract As a combination of a brittle cement matrix and ductile rubber particles, rubberized concrete has complex fracture characteristics at the microscale level. To better understand the fracture pattern of rubberized concrete, in this study, a novel image processing method is developed to extract the cracks in the specimens accurately, especially the microcracks, obtained in X-ray computed tomography images. To demonstrate the validity of the method, in-situ XCT tests were used to track the rubberized concrete specimens under loading. The robustness and practicability of the proposed method were verified by processing the images of the specimens with different rubber contents. The results show that the crack propagation under loading could be visualized by using the method, and the effect of the addition of the rubber on the cracks was then analyzed quantitatively.