International Journal of Geotechnical Engineering

ISSN: 1938-6362 (Print) 1939-7879 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/yjge20

Quantification of desiccation cracks using image

analysis technique

S. P. Singh, S. Rout & A. Tiwari

To cite this article: S. P. Singh, S. Rout & A. Tiwari (2017): Quantification of desiccation
cracks using image analysis technique, International Journal of Geotechnical Engineering, DOI:
10.1080/19386362.2017.1282400

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/19386362.2017.1282400

Published online: 27 Jan 2017.

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 Quantification of desiccation cracks using
image analysis technique
S. P. Singh*, S. Rout and A. Tiwari
This paper portrays a neoteric methodology for quantifying surface cracks and shrinkage that appears
in the soil after desiccation under certain atmospheric conditions using image analysis technique. Soils
over a wide range of plasticity are prepared by mixing high plastic sodium bentonite with non-plastic fly
ash. Cylindrical specimens with different thickness, initial moisture content and densities were prepared
Downloaded by [National Institute of Technology - Rourkela] at 20:44 15 October 2017

and allowed to desiccate at an average temperature of 25 °C and relative humidity of 40%. The ImageJ
software is used for image processing and Matlab for quantification of surface cracks and shrinkage in the
specimens. The effect of different parameters like plasticity of soil, sample thickness, and initial moisture
content on surface cracks and shrinkage are expressed in terms of crack density factor (CDF) and crack
intensity factor (CIF). The result shows that both CDF and CIF increase with an increase in the plasticity
index of the soil and initial moisture content of the specimens. In contrast; with the increase in sample
thickness, CDF decreases slightly whereas CIF increases.
Keywords:  Expansive soil, Surface cracks, Image analysis, Crack intensity factor, Crack density factor

Introduction Literature review

The cracking characteristics of soil are found to be caused by
the non-uniform moisture and temperature distribution as well
as due to mineralogical composition of the soil. In addition,
the type and amount of exchangeable cations in the pore fluid,
colloidal content, orientation of particles and the in situ unit
weight also affects the cracking characteristics of soil. Further,
the local environmental changes, such as intrusion of foreign
matter, wetting-drying and freezing-thawing cycle also affect
soil cracking. Cracks create zones of weakness in a soil mass
and cause reductions in the overall strength and stability besides
increasing the compressibility of the soil (Yisiller et al. 2000).
Surface cracks and shrinkage impact the geotechnical prop-
erties of soil in many ways. Permeability of soil changes due
to cracking in clay barriers; eventually creating preferential
flow paths for transportation of contaminants along cracks
and consequently, strength of soil also decreases. Therefore,
knowledge of soil surface cracks and shrinkage behaviour is
needed for further understanding and prediction of changes
in unsaturated hydraulic properties in heterogeneous and non-
rigid soils. There are four basic types of cracking frequently
observed in a soil mass, such as shrinkage, thermal, tensile and
fracture. A better understanding of the swelling or shrinkage
phenomenon is needed to know the initiation, propagation and
impact of cracks on the geoengineering properties. To achieve
this objective, an accurate method for quantifying shrinkage
and crack intensities is needed along with the parameters that
influence the same.
Department of Civil Engineering, National Institute of Technology Rourkela,
Rourkela, Odisha 769008, India
*Corresponding author. email spsingh@nitrkl.ac.in
An image-based analysis to quantify crack development with
sufficient accuracy depending upon soil characteristics and
environmental conditions have been developed very recently.
In this context, the works of Miller et al. (1998), Vogel et al.
(2005), Peng et al. (2006), Lakshmikantha et al. (2009), Tang
et al. (2011) and Auvray et al. (2014) are worth mentioning.
With the help of this analysis, cracks are quantified in the
form of CIF (Crack Intensity Factor) and CDF (Crack Density
Factor). Lakshmikantha et al. (2009) and Miller et al. (1998)
defined CDF as the ratio of total crack areas to the nominal
(un-cracked) surface area of the drying specimen. Abedinzadeh
and Abedinzadeh (1991) used image analyser successfully to
study the morphological characteristics of granular materials
in the form of those quantitative indices. The CIF was defined
by Miller et al. (1998) as the ratio between the crack areas to
the entire specimen surface area. The CIF is quantified using
initially saturated soils subjected to air drying or oven drying
conditions. These conditions lead to large cracks those are easily
identifiable on the specimen surface. Puppala et al. (2004) meas-
ured the volumetric shrinkage strain of three expansive soil sam-
ples at three different moisture content levels through digital and
manual means. It was observed that digital measurements show
higher strain, which can be used for better characterisation.
Peng et al. (2006) introduced a non-destructive and quantitative
measurement of soil shrinkage and observed the crack volume
with respect to dehydration of saturated soil. Oren et al. (2006)
quantified the volumetric shrinkage strain using both digital and
manual methods. This methodology is found to be a promising
approach for quantification of volumetric shrinkage strain. Tang
et al. (2008) reported the effect of drying temperature, specimen

© 2017 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group

Received 1 September 2016; accepted 3 January 2017
DOI 10.1080/19386362.2017.1282400 International Journal of Geotechnical Engineering   2017   1
 Singh et al.  Quatificatin of desiccation cracks

thickness and plasticity index on the crack parameters. These
parameters are found to be gradually increasing with increase
in temperature, sample thickness and soil plasticity. However,
the crack parameters are found to decrease with increase in
wetting-drying cycles. Lakshmikantha et al. (2009) studied the
formation and propagation of cracks due to continuous desicca-
tion of the soil and the final crack pattern with the help of image
analysis. Azadegan et al. (2012) measured the swelling and
shrinkage properties using palm fibre content with clay. It was
noticed that with the increase in fibre content, cracks are com-
pletely distributed rather than long, wide and deep crack and
consequently, ultimate strain, compressive strength and elastic
modulus increase. Auvray et al. (2014) studied the crack-related
parameters using image processing method and also discussed
the effect of suction cycles on crack and shrinkage intensities of
soil. The current study intends to quantify the desiccation cracks
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non-plastic fly ash. The bentonite content in the mixture by
weight is taken as 100, 90, 70, 40, 10 and zero percentage.
These mixtures are referred as soil 1, soil 2, soil 3, soil 4, soil
5 and soil 6, respectively. The index and engineering proper-
ties of virgin materials and bentonite-fly ash mixes are deter-
mined according to the Indian Standard (IS) code of practice.
The summary of data is shown in Table 1. As per IS (Indian
Standard) 1498 (1970), the above mixtures fall in the cate-
gory of highly plastic to non-plastic soils. For preparation of
specimens, bentonite-fly ash mixtures are added with water
corresponding to their liquid limit (LL), plastic limit (PL) and
optimum moisture content (OMC). These are placed in plastic
bags for 48 h to attain homogeneous moisture distribution and
maturity. Specimens prepared at LL and PL state are moulded
in cylindrical moulds having 130 mm diameter and height of
15 and 50 mm (Fig. 1) using a vibrating table. However, spec-

in the specimens those are prepared at different initial moisture
contents and thickness by adopting image analysis technique.
Materials and methodology
Materials
Experiments are conducted with bentonite-fly ash mixtures
to study the shrinkage cracking behaviour in the laboratory.
Commercially available bentonite of Neelkanth Minechem,
Jodhpur, India and fly ash of the captive power plant of
Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP), India are used for this purpose.
Sample preparation
Bentonite-fly ash mixtures over a wide range of plasticity are
prepared by mixing commercial grade sodium bentonite with
imens prepared at OMC are extracted from a standard Proctor
mould that is compacted dynamically to MDD at OMC using
the standard Proctor rammer. All these specimens are placed in
a temperature and humidity controlled chamber at an average
temperature of 25°C and 40% relative humidity. This desic-
cation environment is adopted to simulate a severe arid envi-
ronment. Thereafter, the crack-related parameters are analysed
using image analysis technique and quantified using Matlab
programming.
Experimental set-up
To capture the surface cracks and specimen shrinkage, a high
resolution (72dpi) digital camera (Canon EOS 60D- pic size
18 MP) is installed on a platform at a fixed height of 50 cm
from the specimen. Lakshmikantha et al. (2009), Oren et al.

Table 1 Geotechnical properties of synthetic soil

Specific Liquid limit Plastic limit Shrinkage Plasticity

Specimen ID gravity (%) (%) limit (%) index (%) OMC (%) MDD (g/cc) Soil type
Soil 1 2.70 301 51 6 250 32 1.38 CH
Soil 2 2.64 266 50 7 216 31 1.30 CH
Soil 3 2.55 176 48 23 128 30.5 1.39 CH
Soil 4 2.48 98 47 36 51 33 1.34 MH
Soil 5 2.36 53 44 38 9 36.2 1.25 MH
Soil 6 2.30 51 NP 41 NP 40 1.16 Non-plastic

1 Top and side view of specimen in the shrinkage mould

2 International Journal of Geotechnical Engineering   2017  


2 Experimental set-ups for taking the raw image (RGB image) of specimen
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3 Steps to convert RGB image to Binary image. a Raw image b GS image c Prepared image d Binary image
(2006) and Puppala et al. (2004) have adopted a similar tech-
nique for capturing images and analysis of desiccation cracks
in soil. Black paper is placed on the base of the mould below
the sample to avert the white light reflection. In this experi-
mental work, plumb-bob is used to transfer the centre of the
camera to the platform that holds specimens. This is adopted
to ensure that the camera is vertical to the specimen surface.
For this specific position of the camera and the specimen,
the captured image is calibrated against a known value. The
internal diameter of the mould is used as reference to calibrate
the image. The overall set-up is shown in Fig. 2. The above
specified camera is directly connected to personal computer
(PC) through data cable in order to expedite the capturing of
still photographs and subsequently software like ImageJ and
Matlab programming tool is used for quantification of cracks.
ImageJ is an open source image processing program designed
for analysing of scientific multidimensional images. There is
many more command operator on menu bar of ImageJ software
which is called ImageJ function.
Image analysis
The specimens prepared at three aspired moisture contents cor-
responding to their LL, PL and OMC are placed in the previ-
ously mentioned temperature and humidity controlled chamber.
In order to quantify the cracks and shrinkage, raw images of
the specimens are taken after achievement of constant weight
by the desiccated specimens for three consecutive days. Image
analysis is carried out for extracting meaningful information
from the raw RGB images. The images are rectified by elimi-
nating the background noise in order to have prepared image.
By thresholding using ImageJ function, prepared image was
 International Journal of Geotechnical Engineering  2017   3
Singh et al.  Quatificatin of desiccation cracks
modified is called grey scale image. To demarcate the cracks
and the shrinkage area from intact soil, image segmentation is
done. The segmentation splits up the digital image into multiple
regions, according to a chosen criterion (e.g. a threshold). In
this study, the threshold is the greyscale value that defines the
limit between the cracks and the shrinkage area (the darker pix-
els), and the intact soil (the brighter pixels).The segmentation
consists of comparing each pixel of the greyscale image to the
defined threshold. If the pixel is shadowy than the threshold,
its value becomes 0 (a black pixel) otherwise its value becomes
255 (a spurious white pixel). As a result, the corrected image
becomes a binary image, called a segmented image. Then, the
threshold ImageJ function is used to evaluate the shrinkage
area. This is done using ImageJ software and Matlab program.
Several binary operations performed to convert RGB image to
binary image are shown in Fig. 3.
Determination of crack area, CIF and CDF
In the second stage of analysis, the binary image obtained after
image processing is again processed to obtain the crack and
shrinkage patterns like shrinkage area, total area of cracks,
total length of cracks, crack average width, length of cracks
per unit area, CIF and CDF. After the segmentation (Fig. 4(a)),
some white points come forth in the shrinkage area which leads
to jaggedness on the surface area. Some binary operators are
used to improve the accuracy by filling these white points.
The Dilate operator transforms a pixel black if all of the pixels
enclosed by it are black, whereas the Erode operator switches
a pixel to white if all of the pixels surrounded by it are white.
The Close operator is an amalgamation of the Dilate operator
and the Erode operator. This operator is used to fill the holes in
 Singh et al.  Quatificatin of desiccation cracks

4 Sequence of the image processing method for determination of shrinkage and crack area

Table 2 Results of image analysis of different soil specimens

15 mm thick specimens 50 mm thick specimens

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Moulding
Sample ID state CDF CIF CL (mm) AW (mm) CDF CIF CL (mm) AW (mm)
Soil 2 LL 63.976 3.833 213.06 0.895 62.861 11.993 440.6 1.525
PL 25.075 0.541 170.97 0.317 23.697 3.925 383.43 1.079
OMC 19.026 0 0 0 15.717 0.165 108.03 0.171
Soil 3 LL 50.476 3.419 137.59 1.691 49.649 6.168 412.72 1.064
PL 21.045 0 0 0 19.444 0 0 0
OMC 10.774 0 0 0 7.991 0 0 0
Soil 4 LL 27.569 0.289 104.46 0.269 27.027 0 0 0
PL 8.932 0 0 0 8.074 0 0 0
OMC 2.875 0 0 0 1.790 0 0 0
Soil 5 LL 8.434 0 0 0 6.949 0 0 0
PL 0.872 0 0 0 0.368 0 0 0
OMC 0.308 0 0 0 0.101 0 0 0

the shrinkage area as shown in Fig. 4(b). Various combinations

of binary operators, such as Erode, Dilate, Open and Close
are tested on the calibration images to fill the white points
present in the shrinkage area. The Close operator succeeded
in improving the shrinkage area quantification. The reduced
image that is obtained by deleting the maximum horizontal
shrinkage is the first step to quantify the cracks. By the use
of free hand selection operator, cracks are selected as shown
in Fig. 4(c). Lakshmikantha et al. (2009) proposed the use of
a Despeckle median filter that replaces each pixel with the
median value (white or black) of the pixels in its immediate
vicinity. This filter is considered to be efficient in reducing
the noise in binary pictures. Therefore, a combination of the
Despeckle median filter and the Close operator is applied to
the image to delete elements of the remaining noise and to fill 5 CDF values for 15 mm thick soil specimens
crack elements. Then, the black pixels in the binary image
are calculated using Matlab to obtain crack area. The crack in Table 2. Figs. 5 and 6 presents the CDF values of four dif-
area is presented in terms of CDF and CIF. CDF is computed ferent soils; prepared at an initial sample thickness of 15 and
as the percentage of summation of total crack and shrinkage 50 mm, respectively. It is noticed that the CDF value reduces
area to the initial specimen area, while, CIF is calculated as gradually with the decrease of soil plasticity for a particular
the percentage of total cracked area in reduced specimen area. moulding state of soil. CDF is also found to be a function of
moisture content. For a given soil sample, the CDF reduces
Results and discussions with the reduction of the moisture content within the speci-
men. The shrinkage potential of a soil is directly related to its
Influence of soil type on CDF and CIF plasticity value. The plasticity index and the shrinkage poten-
In the present experimental investigation, four soils having tial of a soil decrease as there is an increase of non-swelling
different plasticity index values are used. Soil 2 is having material proportion in the mixture. Therefore, the low plastic
the plasticity index of 216%, whereas for soil 5 it is 9%. The soils record very less CDF due to its low swelling and shrink-
CDF and CIF values of different soil specimens are presented age potential. CIF is the percentage of cracks present in the

4 International Journal of Geotechnical Engineering   2017  


6 CDF values for 50 mm thick soil specimens
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7 CIF values for 15 mm thick soil specimens
8 CIF values for 50 mm thick soil specimens
reduced specimen area. With decrease in the plasticity of soil,
total crack area is reduced and the reduced specimen area is
increased. Therefore, the CIF value reduces. Most of the spec-
imens with low plasticity record almost zero CIF. Variations in
CIF with soil type are shown in Figs. 7 and 8 for 15 and 50 mm
thick specimens, respectively. It is observed that soils having
very low plasticity index; do not show any surface cracks as
seen in soil 4 and soil 5 specimens.
 International Journal of Geotechnical Engineering  2017   5
Singh et al.  Quatificatin of desiccation cracks
9 Variation of average crack width with moulding state of
soil 2
10 Variation of crack length with moulding state of soil 2
Effect of moisture content and thickness of the
specimen
Figures 5 and 6 presents the variation of CDF values for soils
prepared at three initial moisture contents, that is at liquid
limit, plastic limit and OMC. It is seen that CDF increases
with increase in the moisture content for a given type of soil.
Amount of shrinkage in specimens is directly related to the
initial moisture content. With an increase in moisture content,
the stresses due to shrinkage increases in the specimen during
drying. Because of this increased stress, CDF value is found
to increase with moisture content. However, the CDF value is
found to decrease with an increase in specimen thickness. The
number of cracks as well as the amount of surface shrinkage
observed in a thicker sample is less as compared to a thinner
sample due to slow rate of desiccation. The moisture present
in the bottom layer reduces the tensile stress development in
the top layer during drying and thus, restricts more surface
shrinkage. However, due to this uneven drying, though the
number of cracks decreases, the crack width increases. These
results an overall increase in the crack intensity. For low plastic
 Singh et al.  Quatificatin of desiccation cracks
soil moulded at OMC, the surface cracks are not noticeable;
therefore CIF is zero. However, for all the specimens prepared
at liquid limit or specimens with higher thickness, the surface
cracks are found to be more and the shrunk specimen area
is less. It accounts for the higher CIF value for those speci-
mens. This is similar to the findings of Tang et al. (2008). Tang
et al. (2008) reported that CIF decreases with an increase in
the specimen thickness.
Crack length and average crack width
The average crack width of the desiccated specimens is cal-
culated from the total cracked area and crack length. Average
crack width and crack length are found to increase with the
increase in moisture content and thickness of the specimen
(Figs. 9 and 10). Uneven drying is noticed in specimens pre-
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pared either at higher initial moisture content or for thicker
specimens. Due to the uneven drying though the number of
surface cracks decreases, the crack length, as well as its width
increases. This results an overall increase in the crack intensity.
For higher plastic soil (soil 2), crack length and crack width are
longer and wider than the other types. At particular moisture
content, crack length and width are found to decrease with
decrease in soil plasticity.
Conclusion
This work presents an automated system for quantifying the
surface cracks and shrinkage behaviour of soils. The device and
the associated image processing software create a possible way
to study the various parameters of cracks with quantification in
an easy, quick and better mode. It is a non-destructive and very
meticulous method. The following conclusions are made based
on the results and analysis of the controlled mixture:
• All of the crack parameters are strongly influenced by
the soil type, initial moisture content and thickness of
soil sample.
• CDF is found to be more for soils having higher plas-
ticity index. It also increases with the increase in initial
moisture content of the specimen. However, the same is
found to decrease marginally with increase in specimen
thickness. On the account of soil plasticity, an increase in
swelling material in the mixture resulted in an increased
CDF. Further, an increase in initial moisture content of the
specimens, enhances stress due to shrinkage and hence
the CDF is increased.
6 International Journal of Geotechnical Engineering   2017  
• CIF increases with the increase in plasticity index of
the soil, initial moisture content and the thickness of the
specimens.
• Average crack width as well as crack length increases with
increase in plasticity index of the soils, initial moisture
content and thickness of the specimens.
• On the account of low plastic soil (soil 4), the crack
parameters are very less when the sample thickness is 50
mm and the soil is prepared at OMC.
Conflict of interest
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
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