Improved Mesoscale Segmentation of Concrete from 3D X-ray Images Using Contrast Enhancers

Published

June 28, 2018

Author(s)

Pietro Carrara, Rolands Kruse, Dale P. Bentz, M Lunardelli, Thorsten Leusmann, P Varady, Laura De Lorenzis

Abstract

Obtaining the mesostructure of concrete from X-ray computed tomography (CT) requires segmentation of the data into distinct phases, a process complicated by the limited contrast between aggregates and mortar matrix. This paper explores the possibility to add barite or hematite into the concrete mixture to enhance the contrast between cement paste and aggregates in CT, thus allowing for a semi-automatic segmentation. Raw and segmented CT images of plain and modified concrete mixtures are obtained and compared to assess the validity of the proposed approach. Characterization tests are also performed in order to ensure that the concrete characteristics are not appreciably affected by the presence of the enhancers.

Citation

Cement and Concrete Composites

Pub Type

Journals

Download Paper

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cemconcomp.2018.06.014

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Keywords

Concrete mesostructure, computed tomography, numerical modeling, segmentation.

Citation

Carrara, P. , Kruse, R. , Bentz, D. , Lunardelli, M. , Leusmann, T. , Varady, P. and De Lorenzis, L. (2018), Improved Mesoscale Segmentation of Concrete from 3D X-ray Images Using Contrast Enhancers, Cement and Concrete Composites, [online], https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cemconcomp.2018.06.014, https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=924748 (Accessed October 18, 2025)