• Journal of the Semiconductor & Display Technology
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.23-26
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• 2015

A seam carving based micro-crack detection method is proposed which aims at detecting the micro-crack regions in heterogeneously textured surface of polycrystalline solar cells. By calculating the seam which is a connected path of low energy pixels in the image, the micro-crack regions can be detected. Experimental results show that the proposed seam carving based micro-crack detection method has superior efficiency in detecting the micro-crack without background noise pixels and the algorithm's computation time is less than the conventional algorithm.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.445-457
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• 2019

Cracks are an important distress of concrete bridges, and may reduce the life and safety of bridges. However, the traditional manual crack detection means highly depend on the experience of inspectors. Furthermore, it is time-consuming, expensive, and often unsafe when inaccessible position of bridge is to be assessed, such as viaduct pier. To solve this question, the real-time automatic crack detecting system with unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) become a choice. This paper designs a new automatic detection system based on real-time comprehensive image processing for bridge crack. It has small size, light weight, low power consumption and can be carried on a small UAV for real-time data acquisition and processing. The real-time comprehensive image processing algorithm used in this detection system combines the advantage of connected domain area, shape extremum, morphology and support vector data description (SVDD). The performance and validity of the proposed algorithm and system are verified. Compared with other detection method, the proposed system can effectively detect cracks with high detection accuracy and high speed. The designed system in this paper is suitable for practical engineering applications.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.738-744
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• 2011

The reliability of blade root fixing section is required to endure the centrifugal force and vibration stress for the last stage blade of steam turbine in thermal power plant. Most of the domestic steam turbine last stage blades have finger type roots. The finger type blade is very complex, so the inspection had been performed only on the exposed fixing pin cross-section area due to the difficulty of inspection. But the centrifugal force and vibration stress are also applied at the blade root finger and the crack generates, so the inspection method for finger section is necessary. For the inspection of root finger, inspection points were decided by simulating ultra-sonic path with 3D modeling, curve-shape probe and fixing jig were invented, and the characteristics analysis method of ultrasonic reflection signal and defect signal disposition method were invented. This invented method was actually executed at site and prevented the blade liberation failure by detecting the cracks at the fingers. Also, the same type blades of the other turbines were inspected periodically and the reliability of the turbine increased.

• International Journal of Aeronautical and Space Sciences
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.323-331
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• 2012

A simple and robust methodology is presented to determine the location and amount of crack in beam like structures based on the incremental particle swarm optimization technique. A comparison is made for assessing the performance of standard particle swarm optimization and the incremental particle swarm optimization technique for detecting crack in structural members. The objective function is formulated using the measured natural frequency of the intact structure and the frequency obtained from the finite element simulation. The outcomes of the simulated results demonstrate that the developed method is capable of detecting and estimating the extent of damages with satisfactory precision.

• Journal of Korea Society of Digital Industry and Information Management
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.17-22
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• 2013

In this paper, we propose a concrete crack detection method using shape properties. It is based on morphology algorithm and crack features. We assume that an input image is contaminated by various noises. Thus, we use a morphology operator and extract patterns of crack. It segments cracks and background using opening and closing operations. Morphology based segmentation is better than existing integration methods using subtraction in detecting a crack it has small width. Also, it is robust to noisy environment. The proposed algorithm classifies the segmented image into crack and background using shape properties of crack. This method calculates values of properties such as the number of pixels and the maximum length of the segmented region. Also, pixel counts of clusters are considered. We decide whether the segmented region belongs to cracks according to those data. Experimental results show that our proposed crack detection method has better results than those by existing detection methods.

• Journal of Korea Society of Digital Industry and Information Management
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.13-20
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• 2013

In this paper, we propose a multi-scale crack detection method. This method uses decomposition, composition, and shape properties. It is based on morphology algorithm, crack features. We use a morphology operator which extracts patterns of crack. It segments cracks and background using opening and closing operations. Morphology based segmentation is better than existing integration methods using subtraction in detecting a crack it has small width. However, morphology methods using only one structure element could detect only fixed width crack. Thus, we use decomposition and composition methods. We use a decimation method for decomposition. After decomposition and morphology operation, we get edge images given by binary values. Our method calculates values of properties such as the number of pixels and the maximum length of the segmented region. We decide whether the segmented region belongs to cracks according to those data. Experimental results show that our proposed multi-scale crack detection method has better results than those of existing detection methods.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.165-175
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• 2024

Rotating beams play a crucial role in representing complex mechanical components that are prevalent in vital sectors like energy and transportation industries. These components are susceptible to the initiation and propagation of cracks, posing a substantial risk to their structural integrity. This study presents a two-stage methodology for detecting the location and estimating the size of an open-edge transverse crack in a rotating Euler-Bernoulli beam with a uniform cross-section. Understanding the dynamic behavior of beams is vital for the effective design and evaluation of their operational performance. In this regard, modal parameters such as natural frequencies and eigenmodes are frequently employed to detect and identify damages in mechanical components. In this instance, the Frobenius method has been employed to determine the first two natural frequencies and corresponding eigenmodes associated with flapwise bending vibration. These calculations have been performed by solving the governing differential equation that describes the motion of the beam. Various parameters have been considered, such as rotational speed, beam slenderness, hub radius, and crack size and location. The effect of the crack has been replaced by a rotational spring whose stiffness represents the increase in local flexibility as a result of the damage presence. In the initial phase of the proposed methodology, a damage index utilizing the slope of the beam's eigenmode has been employed to estimate the location of the crack. After detecting the presence of damage, the size of the crack is determined using a Genetic Algorithm optimization technique. The ultimate goal of the proposed methodology is to enable the development of more suitable and reliable maintenance plans.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Technology Engineers
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.950-956
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• 2013

This paper describes a sensitivity-coefficient-based iterative method for detecting cracks in a structure. The sensitivity coefficients of a cracked structure are obtained by changing its eigenvectors. The proposed method is applied to a cracked cantilever. The crack is modeled as a rotational stiffness. The predicted cracks are in good agreement with those from a structural reanalysis of the cracked structure.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.385-395
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• 2022

Detecting cracks on a concrete structure is crucial for structural maintenance, a crack being an indicator of possible damage. Conventional crack detection methods which include visual inspection and non-destructive equipment, are typically limited to a small region and require time-consuming processes. Recently, to reduce the human intervention in the inspections, various researchers have sought computer vision-based crack analyses: One class is filter-based methods, which effectively transforms the image to detect crack edges. The other class is using deep-learning algorithms. For example, convolutional neural networks have shown high precision in identifying cracks in an image. However, when the objective is to classify not only the existence of crack but also the types of cracks, only a few studies have been reported, limiting their practical use. Thus, the presented study develops an image processing procedure that detects cracks and classifies crack types; whether the image contains a crazing-type, single crack, or multiple cracks. The properties and steps in the algorithm have been developed using field-obtained images. Subsequently, the algorithm is validated from additional 227 images obtained from an open database. For test datasets, the proposed algorithm showed accuracy of 92.8% in average. In summary, the developed algorithm can precisely classify crazing-type images, while some single crack images may misclassify into multiple cracks, yielding conservative results. As a result, the successful results of the presented study show potentials of using vision-based technologies for providing crack information with reduced human intervention.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.64-77
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• 2012

In this study, the crack detecting system with digital image processing techniques based on the mathematical morphology method was developed to detect cracks in concrete structures. In the developed system, the image combining technique of reconstructing multiple images as an entire single image considering efficient management of analysis results was applied as an additional module. The developed system was verified through a field test with the cracked concrete culvert and the crack width of 0.2 mm was able to be detected in the 40m span. In the image analysis, the difference between calculated crack width and actual crack width were less than 0.08mm. For image combination in the stitching test of pattern images, the stitched image was identical with the original picture of entire subject in the visual perception level.