• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.290-296
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• 2005

This paper presents the implementation of a crack tracking mobile robot. The crack tracking robot is built for tracking cracks on the pavement. To track cracks, crack must be detected by laser and camera sensors. Laser sensor projects laser on the pavement to detect the discontinuity on the surface and the camera captures the image to find the crack position. Then the robot is commanded to follow the crack. To detect crack position correctly, neural network is used to minimize the positional errors of the captured crack position obtained by transformation from 2 dimensional images to 3 dimensional images.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.2502-2507
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• 2003

In this paper, a crack sealing robot is developed. The crack sealing robot is built to detect, track, and seal the crack on the pavement. The sealing robot is required to brush all dirt in the crack out for preparing a better sealing job. Camera calibration has been done to get accurate crack position. In order to perform a cleaning job, the explicit force control method is used to regulate a specified desired force in order to maintain constant contact with the ground. Experimental studies of force tracking control are conducted under unknown environment stiffness and location. Crack tracking control is performed. Force tracking results are excellent and the robot finds and tracks the crack very well.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.337-343
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• 2005

In this paper, experimental studies of force control of the crack tracking robot are presented. The crack tracking robot should maintain constant contact with the road to perform cleaning process of the crack effectively. Regulating desired force on the road requires a sophisticated force control algorithm. Here, two main force control algorithms such as the impedance force control and the explicit force control are used. Performances of two force control algorithms are compared.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.261-283
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• 2013

This paper aims to contribute to the three-dimensional generalization of numerical prediction of crack propagation through the formulation of finite elements with embedded discontinuities. The analysis of crack propagation in two-dimensional problems yields lines of discontinuity that can be tracked in a relatively simple way through the sequential construction of straight line segments oriented according to the direction of failure within each finite element in the solid. In three-dimensional analysis, the construction of the discontinuity path is more complex because it requires the creation of plane surfaces within each element, which must be continuous between the elements. In the method proposed by Chaves (2003) the crack is determined by solving a problem analogous to the heat conduction problem, established from local failure orientations, based on the stress state of the mechanical problem. To minimize the computational effort, in this paper a new strategy is proposed whereby the analysis for tracking the discontinuity path is restricted to the domain formed by some elements near the crack surface that develops along the loading process. The proposed methodology is validated by performing three-dimensional analyses of basic problems of experimental fractures and comparing their results with those reported in the literature.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.70 no.1
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• pp.43-54
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• 2019

Due to various numerical problems, crack analysis of reinforced concrete members using the finite element method is confronting with substantial difficulties, rendering the prediction of crack patterns and crack widths a formidable task. The root cause is that the conventional analysis methods are not capable of tracking the crack sequence and accounting for the stress relief and re-distribution during cracking. To address this deficiency, the crack queuing algorithm has been proposed. Basically, at each load increment, iterations are carried out and within each iteration step, only the most critical concrete element is allowed to crack and the stress re-distribution is captured in subsequent iteration by re-formulating the cracked concrete element and re-analysing the whole concrete structure. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the crack queuing algorithm, crack analysis of concrete members tested in the literature is performed with and without the crack queuing algorithm incorporated.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.1077-1081
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• 2003

In this paper, experimental studies of force tracking control for the crack sealing robot are presented. Crack sealing robot is built to detect, track and seal the crack on the pavement. Before sealing, crack must be detected by a laser sensor and a camera sensor, then cleaned for a better sealing job. In order to maintain contact with the ground force control is required to brush all dirt in the crack out for preparing sealing cracks with tars. Impedance control algorithm is presented to regulate a specified desired force. Experimental studies of the proposed force control algorithm are conducted under unknown environment stiffness and location. Performances of force control algorithm are stable and excellent.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.75 no.6
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• pp.685-699
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• 2020

Polygonal finite element provides a great flexibility in mesh generation of crack propagation problems where the topology of the domain changes significantly. However, the control of the discretization error in such problems is a main concern. In this paper, a polygonal-FEM is presented in modeling of crack propagation problems via an automatic adaptive mesh refinement procedure. The adaptive mesh refinement is accomplished based on the Zienkiewicz-Zhu error estimator in conjunction with a weighted SPR technique. Adaptive mesh refinement is employed in some steps for reduction of the discretization error and not for tracking the crack. In the steps that no adaptive mesh refinement is required, local modifications are applied on the mesh to prevent poor polygonal element shapes. Finally, several numerical examples are analyzed to demonstrate the efficiency, accuracy and robustness of the proposed computational algorithm in crack propagation problems.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.1543-1567
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• 2015

In this study, a wireless crack sensor is developed for monitoring cracks propagating in two dimensions. This sensor is developed by incorporating a laser-based optical navigation sensor board (ADNS-9500) into a smart wireless platform (Imote2). To measure crack propagation, the Imote2 sends a signal to the ADNS-9500 to collect a sequence of images reflected from the concrete surface. These acquired images can be processed in the ADNS-9500 directly (the navigation mode) or sent to Imote2 for processing (the frame capture mode). The computed crack displacement can then be transmitted wirelessly to a base station. The design and the construction of this sensor are reported herein followed by some calibration tests on one prototype sensor. Test results show that the sensor can provide sub-millimeter accuracy under sinusoidal and step movement. Also, the two modes of operation offer complementary performance as the navigation mode is more accurate in tracking large amplitude and fast crack movement while the frame capture mode is more accurate for small and slow crack movement. These results illustrate the feasibility of developing such a crack sensor as well as point out directions of further research before its actual implementation.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.67-82
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• 2007

The discrete crack-concept is applied to study the 3D propagation of tensile-dominated failure in plain concrete. To this end the Partition of Unity Finite Element Method (PUFEM) is utilized and the strong discontinuity approach is followed. A consistent linearized implementation of the PUFEM is combined with a predictor-corrector algorithm to track the crack path, which leads to a robust numerical description of concrete cracking. The proposed concept is applied to study concrete failure during the PCT3D test and the predicted numerical results are compared to experimental data. The proposed numerical concept provides a clear interface for constitutive models and allows an investigation of their impact on concrete cracking under 3D conditions, which is of significant scientific interests to interpret results from 3D experiments.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.374-381
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• 2016

The sealing technique is widely used for repairing the cracks on the surface of concrete and preventing their expansion in the future. However, it is difficult to ensure the safety of the workers when sealing large structures in inconvenient working environments. This paper presents the development of a sealing robot system to seal various shapes of concrete surface in rough conditions for a long time. If the robot can maintain the desired contact force, the cracks can be completely sealed. An impedance force tracking controller with slope estimator is proposed to calculate the surface slope in real time using the robot position. It predicts the next point in order to prevent the robot from disengaging from the contact surface owing to quick slope changes. The proposed method has been verified by experimental results.