Seismic Damage Quantification of RC Short Columns from Crack Images Using the Enhanced U-Net

It is of great importance to quantify the seismic damage of reinforced concrete (RC) short columns since they often experience severe damage due to likely excessive shear deformation. In this paper, the seismic damage quantification method of RC short columns under earthquakes is proposed based on c...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Zixiao Chen, Qian Chen, Zexu Dai, Chenghao Song, Xiaobin Hu
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2025-01-01
Series:Buildings
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2075-5309/15/3/322
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1850068145972183040
author Zixiao Chen
Qian Chen
Zexu Dai
Chenghao Song
Xiaobin Hu
author_facet Zixiao Chen
Qian Chen
Zexu Dai
Chenghao Song
Xiaobin Hu
author_sort Zixiao Chen
collection DOAJ
description It is of great importance to quantify the seismic damage of reinforced concrete (RC) short columns since they often experience severe damage due to likely excessive shear deformation. In this paper, the seismic damage quantification method of RC short columns under earthquakes is proposed based on crack images and the enhanced U-Net. To this end, RC short-column specimens were prepared and tested under cyclic loading. The force-displacement hysteresis curves were obtained to quantitatively calculate the damage indicator of the RC short column based on the energy criterion. At the same time, crack images of the column surfaces were taken by smartphones using the partition photographing scheme and image stitching algorithm. The widely used U-Net was enhanced by adding a double attention mechanism to segment the cracks in the images. The results demonstrate that it has better accuracy in terms of recognizing tiny cracks compared to the original U-Net. By image analysis, the crack information was further extracted from the crack images to investigate the damage development of RC short columns. Finally, correlations between the damage indicator based on the energy criterion and crack information of the RC short columns under cyclic loading were analyzed, showing that the highest correlation exists between the damage indicator and the total crack area. Finally, the normalized total crack area, i.e., the ratio between the total crack area and the corresponding monitored area of the surface, is defined to quantify the seismic damage of RC short columns when utilizing crack images for damage assessment.
format Article
id doaj-art-16a0faf8d38945d49d84af0777a7dc3c
institution DOAJ
issn 2075-5309
language English
publishDate 2025-01-01
publisher MDPI AG
record_format Article
series Buildings
spelling doaj-art-16a0faf8d38945d49d84af0777a7dc3c2025-08-20T02:48:09ZengMDPI AGBuildings2075-53092025-01-0115332210.3390/buildings15030322Seismic Damage Quantification of RC Short Columns from Crack Images Using the Enhanced U-NetZixiao Chen0Qian Chen1Zexu Dai2Chenghao Song3Xiaobin Hu4School of Civil Engineering, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, ChinaSchool of Civil Engineering, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, ChinaSchool of Civil Engineering, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, ChinaSchool of Civil Engineering, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, ChinaSchool of Civil Engineering, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, ChinaIt is of great importance to quantify the seismic damage of reinforced concrete (RC) short columns since they often experience severe damage due to likely excessive shear deformation. In this paper, the seismic damage quantification method of RC short columns under earthquakes is proposed based on crack images and the enhanced U-Net. To this end, RC short-column specimens were prepared and tested under cyclic loading. The force-displacement hysteresis curves were obtained to quantitatively calculate the damage indicator of the RC short column based on the energy criterion. At the same time, crack images of the column surfaces were taken by smartphones using the partition photographing scheme and image stitching algorithm. The widely used U-Net was enhanced by adding a double attention mechanism to segment the cracks in the images. The results demonstrate that it has better accuracy in terms of recognizing tiny cracks compared to the original U-Net. By image analysis, the crack information was further extracted from the crack images to investigate the damage development of RC short columns. Finally, correlations between the damage indicator based on the energy criterion and crack information of the RC short columns under cyclic loading were analyzed, showing that the highest correlation exists between the damage indicator and the total crack area. Finally, the normalized total crack area, i.e., the ratio between the total crack area and the corresponding monitored area of the surface, is defined to quantify the seismic damage of RC short columns when utilizing crack images for damage assessment.https://www.mdpi.com/2075-5309/15/3/322seismic damage quantificationRC short columncrack imageenhanced U-Nettotal crack area
spellingShingle Zixiao Chen
Qian Chen
Zexu Dai
Chenghao Song
Xiaobin Hu
Seismic Damage Quantification of RC Short Columns from Crack Images Using the Enhanced U-Net
Buildings
seismic damage quantification
RC short column
crack image
enhanced U-Net
total crack area
title Seismic Damage Quantification of RC Short Columns from Crack Images Using the Enhanced U-Net
title_full Seismic Damage Quantification of RC Short Columns from Crack Images Using the Enhanced U-Net
title_fullStr Seismic Damage Quantification of RC Short Columns from Crack Images Using the Enhanced U-Net
title_full_unstemmed Seismic Damage Quantification of RC Short Columns from Crack Images Using the Enhanced U-Net
title_short Seismic Damage Quantification of RC Short Columns from Crack Images Using the Enhanced U-Net
title_sort seismic damage quantification of rc short columns from crack images using the enhanced u net
topic seismic damage quantification
RC short column
crack image
enhanced U-Net
total crack area
url https://www.mdpi.com/2075-5309/15/3/322
work_keys_str_mv AT zixiaochen seismicdamagequantificationofrcshortcolumnsfromcrackimagesusingtheenhancedunet
AT qianchen seismicdamagequantificationofrcshortcolumnsfromcrackimagesusingtheenhancedunet
AT zexudai seismicdamagequantificationofrcshortcolumnsfromcrackimagesusingtheenhancedunet
AT chenghaosong seismicdamagequantificationofrcshortcolumnsfromcrackimagesusingtheenhancedunet
AT xiaobinhu seismicdamagequantificationofrcshortcolumnsfromcrackimagesusingtheenhancedunet