3rd Pak-Turk International Conference on Emerging Technologies in the field of Sciences and Engineering

14-16, April 2020

Predicting compressive strength of CRM samples

using Image-processing and ANN
Muhammad Imran Waris1,a, Afaq Ahmad1,b, Junaid Mir2,c Vagelis Plevris Mir3,d
1
Department of Civil Engineering
University of Engineering and Technology Taxila, Pakistan
2
Department of Electrical Engineering
University of Engineering and Technology Taxila, Pakistan
3
Department of Civil Engineering and Energy Technology
OsloMet- Oslo Metropolitan University Oslo, Norway

Email address: a) imranwaris07@gmail.com, b) afaq.ahmad@uettaxila.edu.pk,

c)
junaid.mir@uettaxila.edu.pk d) vagelis@oslomet.no
Abstract—Quality of concrete is majorly ascertained
through its compressive strength which has
significant role in the stability of concrete structures.
In this study, techniques of artificial intelligence
artificial neural network (ANN) and image
processing (IP) was used to predict the compressive
strength concrete with cement replacement material.
Concrete cylinders using five distinctive parameters
(water/cement ratio, curing, amount of cement,
compression and additive) were fabricated under 14
days. Fly ash and silica fume were used as substitute
to cement by 0%, 15% and 25%. Half of them tested
in compression in laboratory and other halves were
cut into three slices of each for images. Images were
obtained using DSLR camera under defined
conditions. Moreover, features were extracted from
images using a computer program ‘MATLAB’.
Comparison of experimental results and ANN
predicted results (R = 0.9765) proved ANN reliable
prediction tool for prediction of compressive
strength of the concrete. Combination of IP and
ANN is a good alternative method to conventional
nondestructive methods to determine concrete
compressive strength.
Keywords—Artificial Neural Network, Image
Processing, Concrete, Compressive Strength,
I. INTRODUCTION
Machines are programmed on acquired data
using algorithm and are expected to reach
desired outcomes when used. Artificial neural
network (ANN) and image processing (IP) are
popular techniques of artificial intelligence
used to solve complex and time consuming
problems in the field of engineering and
science. ANN is computational network
consisting of different interconnecting layers
and neurons used to perform the duties of
biological mind. IP is process of extracting
useful information from images with help of
computer algorithm. From the past few
decades researchers have been using ANN and
IP in the field of civil engineering to study
building material, concrete technology,
structural engineering, and morphology of
building materials[1-9]. Concrete is a key
building material and has major role in the
stability of structures. It is a composite
material made up of cement, sand and
aggregate bonded together [1, 10]. It shows
nonlinear behavior and has heterogenous
structure. Concrete is extensively used in
buildings, bridges, dams and roads because of
its nature of high compressive resistance.
Concrete compressive strength is main
characteristic of concrete and it has direct
affect on other characteristics which can be
determined using their relationships with
compressive strength [11].
To study compressive strength of concrete
various test methods are used, such as schmidt
hammer, ultrasonic pulse velocity, core
drilling, electrical resistivity measurement.
These are divided into two categories, based on
their application, destructive and non-
destructive [5, 12]. Furthermore, the main is to
describe the mechanical characteristics of
concrete using ANN and IP.
 3rd Pak-Turk International Conference on Emerging Technologies in the field of Sciences and Engineering
14-16, April 2020
Dogan, M. H. Arslan, and M. Ceylan [11]
estimated the compressive strength of
concrete with accuracy of 99.8% combining
ANN and IP and described this as an
alternative to traditional concrete
compressive strength measuring methods.
ANN and IP have been used to predict
compressive strength of cement mortar,
hydraulic lime mortar, light weight concrete,
to examine the effect of aggregate in concrete
and to study reinforcement and cracking in
concrete [7, 13-19]. G. Doğan, M. H. Arslan,
and M. Ceylan [10] used ANN and IP
together to estimate the compressive strength
of concrete. Extracted features such as mean,
average and standard deviation of the matrix
of the image and used those features to train
neural network. Moreover, use of ANN and
IP was described satisfactory method to study
compressive strength of the concrete.
In this study, ANN and IP were used in
conjunction as a new nondestructive method
to predict compressive strength of the
concrete. 27 cylindrical concrete samples
with different mix design ratio and additives
Table 1. Mix proportions used to prepare
different concrete mixes are described in
Table 2. Mixtures were prepared under
natural environment. Cylindrical specimens
of dimension 150mm x 300mm were made.
Curing of the concrete samples is done in
natural water for 14 days. The concrete
samples were left in air to dry for 24 hours
before performing compression tests.
B. Compressive Strength
Cylindrical concrete samples produced
containing cement replacement material fly
ash and silica fume 0%, 15%, 25% by weight
of cement were tested to obtain the
fly ash and silica fume fabricated on 14 days
curing were used to carry out this study.
Statistical features of the images such as
mean, median and standard deviation,
extracted using MATLAB, were used as
input to train test and validate artificial neural
network. Then, IP and ANN results were
verified comparing them with results of
compression test. The main purpose of the
study is to develop an alternative method
determine compressive strength of concrete
without damaging the specimen.
II. SPECIMEN PREPARATION AND
TESTING
A. Materials and Mixing
In this study, Ordinary Portland cement
(OPC) as per specification of ASTM C150
type I was used. Aggregate and river sand
were used as are locally available in Pakistan.
Silica fume and fly ash were utilized to
replace cement by volume in the mixture by
0%, 15%, 25%. The chemical compositions
of OPC, silica fume and fly ash used are
given in
compressive strength. The compressive
strength was measured on cylindrical
specimen of dimension 150mm x 300mm
from each mix ratio cured at 14 days.
Compressive strength of hardened concrete
was measured according to ASTM 39.
III. IMAGE PROCESSING AND
ARTIFICIAL NEURAL NETWORK
C. Image processing setup
To maintain similar intensity of light for each
image captured[11]. special arrangements
were made in a small room of dimension 3m
 3rd Pak-Turk International Conference on Emerging Technologies in the field of Sciences and Engineering
14-16, April 2020

x 3m where sunlight was suspended by

putting black sheet on each point of entry of
light. Artificial light was used to illuminate.
Table 1: Chemical Composition of Cement, Fly Ash and Silica Fume

Chemical composition (%) Cement Silica fume Fly ash

Silica 22.5 84-86 57-65

Aluminum oxide 5 1.0 (max.) 28-32
Iron oxide 4.0 2.0-3.5 1-4
Calcium oxide 64.25 1.0-1.5 1-2
Loss on ignition 0.64 4-7 9.01

Table 2:Mix Ratio of Samples with Cement Replacement Material by Percentage of Volume of Cement

Mix Ratio W/C Fly Ash Silica Fume 14 Days

Ratio replacement replacement Curing
(%) (%)
7S0.4W0A 1:2:4 0.4 0 0 2
7S0.4W0A 1:2:4 0.5 0 0 2
7S0.4W0A 1:2:4 0.6 0 0 2
7S0.4W15A 1:2:4 0.4 15 15 2
7S0.4W15A 1:2:4 0.5 15 15 2
7S0.4W15A 1:2:4 0.6 15 15 2
7S0.4W25A 1:2:4 0.4 25 25 2
7S0.4W25A 1:2:4 0.5 25 25 2
7S0.4W25A 1:2:4 0.6 25 25 2

E. Image acquisition
. For the illumination purpose two 30W LED
bulbs were used[11].
D. Cutting of sample
27 Concrete cylinders were cut horizontally
using sawing machine into three slice Each
slice had same size (150mm diameter and
101.6mm height). Top and bottom faces of
parts of the cylinders were labeled as
demonstrated in Fig. 1
Images of the cut surface of specimen were
captured, in image processing setup, with
DSLR NIKON 3300 camera mounted
300mm vertically above the surface. The
camera had 24-million-pixel capacity. Both,
top and bottom faces of every piece were
photographed. In total, 6 pictures for each
were taken.
3rd Pak-Turk International Conference on Emerging Technologies in the field of Sciences and Engineering
14-16, April 2020
Image process is the application of various
techniques on digital image obtained from
in the built-up controlled environment are
imported to MATLAB and converted to
digital matrix form. Each number in the
matrix represent the pixel value of image
which represents the brightness of image at a
point. Digitized images were converted to
grayscale using (1) and were resized to 256 X
256 as size of original image was large which
could enhance the processing time of ANN.
Mean, median and standard deviation was
calculated from the matrix of size 256 X 256
using (2), (3) and (4) respectively[10]. For
better understanding histograms of the
images are provided in Fig. 2 and masking
was also performed on concrete portion of the
image Fig. 3. Comparison of the center
portion of concrete images of all mix ratios
was also made through histogram as given in
Fig. 4. ANN is a set of layers and nodes used
to process the information similar to human
brain. In this study Levenberg-Marquardt
digital camera through any of the available
software such as MATLAB. Images acquired
(LM) back-propagation ANN model was
adopted to process data. Statistical features
standard deviation, mean and median
extracted from images were taken as input
and experimental values of compressive
strength, tensile strength and slump obtained
from laboratory test were used as target
values. Input and output values were
normalized between 0 and 1 using Error!
Reference source not found. before
training. Optimum model was found after
many trails and adjusting learning values and
moment constant [11]. Architecture of the
optimized ANN model with one input layer,
two hidden layers with ten neurons each and
one output layer for this study is shown in
Fig. 5
0.2990 ∗ 𝑅 + 0.588 ∗ 𝐺 + 11 ∗ 𝐵 (1)
R denote red color, G denotes green and B
denotes blue color
3rd Pak-Turk International Conference on Emerging Technologies in the field of Sciences and Engineering
14-16, April 2020

Fig. 1 Top and Bottom Faces of Three Parts of Concrete Cylinder

3rd Pak-Turk International Conference on Emerging Technologies in the field of Sciences and Engineering
14-16, April 2020

Fig. 2 Histogram of Pixel Values of Six Faces of Concrete Cylinder

Fig. 3 Masking of Top and Bottom Faces of Three Parts of Concrete Cylinder
3rd Pak-Turk International Conference on Emerging Technologies in the field of Sciences and Engineering
14-16, April 2020

Fig. 4 Histogram of Center Faces of Concrete Specimen of All Mix Ratio

𝑛 (𝑢 − 𝑢𝑚𝑖𝑛 )
1 (2) (5)
Ȗ = ∑𝑢 𝑍𝑠 =
𝑛 (𝑢𝑚𝑎𝑥 − 𝑢𝑚𝑖𝑛 )
𝑖=1
Ȗ represents mean value, n number of values
Where Zs represents normalized value of the
of variable and u represents the variable
variable u, umin and umax are the minimum and
W = {(𝑛 + 1) ÷ 2}𝑇ℎ (3) maximum values of the variable u.
After developing the ANN architecture,
W represents median training process was repeated iteratively to
obtain optimum ANN model. Optimized
model was obtained with 10000 iteration
𝑛
(4) number which was tested against various
1 values during the process. The number that
𝑋 = √ ∑(𝑢 − 𝑢̅)2
𝑛 gives the highest accuracy was selected. The
𝑖=1
selected iteration value is the ideal iteration
number related to the sampled problem. So,
Where X represents standard deviation the best ANN model was found for the
minimum training and testing error. The
3rd Pak-Turk International Conference on Emerging Technologies in the field of Sciences and Engineering
14-16, April 2020
Fig. 5 Architecture of the Optimized ANN Mode
formula for the training and testing errors is
given in (6)
𝑘
|𝑎(𝑛) − 𝑏(𝑛)|
𝐸𝑇(%) = (∑ ) ∗ 100
𝑚∗𝑗
𝑛=1
Here, a(n) represents the desired output
values, b(n) represents the ANN outputs, k
represents the number of data points in the
training and testing data, m represents
segment numbers in the training and testing
data, and j represents the ANN outputs for the
training and testing operations.
IV. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
In present study, combination of two artificial
techniques IP and ANN was applied to
determine the compressive strength of
concrete, which is the significant
construction material in civil engineering.
Experimental results and the results from the
adopted method were compared and found
similar. Accuracy of the results depends on
the data set and obtained by this technique is
99.8%.
(6) • Numerous factors affect the
mechanical properties of concrete. A
data set could be produced including
all such parameters water/cement
ratio, curing, additives, quantity of
cement, compaction, size of
aggregate, size and shape of
specimen.
• In this study, ANN model with two
hidden layers and 10 nodes was
selected, other effective parameters lr
and mc were 0.9 and 0.2 respectively.
It is obvious that chosen parameters
affect performance of ANN such as
processing time, accuracy etc. Most
preferred values of the effective
parameters for ANN used by
researcher are favored.
3rd Pak-Turk International Conference on Emerging Technologies in the field of Sciences and Engineering
14-16, April 2020
• In the present study, different
parameters are chosen for concrete
are for different purpose. Different
combinations of parameters are used
mainly because of their effect on
mechanical properties of concrete.
Therefore, results are specific to the
parameters used which is a limitation
of the current study.
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