Application of Image Analysis in Infrastructure Sector Fields—An Overview

Image analysis is one of the recent tools used in the different fields of engineering towards understanding the microscopic behaviour of materials. It extracts information from an image by using automatic or semiautomatic techniques and the result of the image analysis process is a numerical output rather than a picture. Full scale or prototype modelling experimental studies in various Civil Engineering fields involves high-level instrumentation like strain gauges, load cells, data analyzer and data acquisition system. Many researchers in Civil Engineering field have used image analysis along with prototype modelling wherein interface behavioural mechanisms are studied. This avoids complicated experimentation process and permits assessment of discrete behaviours of particles that is impossible otherwise. The current review throws light on various digital image correlation and image processing techniques applied widely in mapping deformation behaviour in different streams of Civil Engineering. It is observed that these techniques offer a greater understanding of crack formation and progression, tracking of subsurface soil movement, monitoring of rail track displacement and visualization of flow in hydraulic channels.