7. Automated Measurement System For Air Void Analysis In Concrete

An automated image analysis system has been developed for the determination of air void parameters in hardened concrete. It is a common practice to use air-entraining agents in concrete to entrain a desired amount of air void to improve the freeze-thaw resistance of concrete. For proper performance, the characteristic parameters of the air void system must be defined before or after the placement of the concrete construction, which include air content by volume, specific surface, spacing factor and air void distribution. The current practice is standardized by ASTM C 457, and it is in general a manual operation. The system developed here is fully automated and intelligent for extraction and analysis of air void data in hardened concrete samples.

System Architecture

Fig.1 Configuration of the system.

Fig.2 The control menu and measurement result display.

Fig.3 Automated Image Analysis System for petrographic analysis of concrete (ASTM C-457)