Development of digital image correlation method to analyse crack variations of masonry wall

The detection of crack development in a masonry wall forms an important study for investigating the earthquake resistance capability of the masonry structures. Traditionally, inspecting the structure and documenting the findings were done manually. The procedures are time-consuming, and the results are sometimes inaccurate. Therefore, the digital image correlation (DIC) technique is developed to identify the strain and crack variations. This technique is non-destructive for inspecting the whole displacement and strain field. Tests on two masonry wall samples were performed to verify the performance of the digital image correlation method. The phenomena of micro cracks, strain concentration situation and nonuniform deformation distribution which could not have been observed preciously by manual inspection are successfully identified using DIC. The crack formation tendencies on masonry wall can be observed at an earlier stage by this proposed method. These results show a great application potential of the DIC technique for various situations such as inspecting shrinkage-induced cracks in fresh concrete, masonry and reinforced concrete structures, and safety of bridges.