Multi-scale 3D roughness quantification of concrete interfaces and pavement surfaces with a single-camera set-up

• Published in: Construction & building materials 2019-10, Vol.222, p.511-521
• Main Authors: Sarker, Munawar, Dias-da-Costa, Daniel, Hadigheh, S. Ali
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Concrete interfaces; Morphology; Single-camera; Surface roughness
• ISSN: 0950-0618; 1879-0526
• DOI: 10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2019.06.157

•A single-camera method is presented for surface morphology assessment in concrete interfaces.•The system is low-cost and easier to use compared to 3D scanners and multi-camera set-ups.•Two feature tracking methods implemented and tested to reach high cloud point data accuracy.•High correlation found for tested roughness parameters between stereoscopy and 3D scanning. The quantification of the surface roughness of concrete pavements is important for upgrading and maintenance operations. This paper explores the application of stereoscopy in the morphology assessment of surfaces with exposed aggregates. The approach herein proposed is based on a single camera to avoid the need for multiple view points and calibration of multiple cameras. An application example is used to address the issues related to the point cloud reconstruction and filtering of the surface points acquired, whilst keeping computational costs reduced. The accuracy of the technique is evaluated by a detailed comparison with a scan using several roughness quantification statistical parameters. Kurtosis is shown to better compare surface profiles and overcome limitations found in standard parameters. A good match between techniques is achieved, with global mean errors of less than 3% in the surface roughness, and local mean errors below 5%. The proposed technique is low-cost and has the potential to be used for the automatic acquisition and characterisation of concrete surfaces.