Thirty-Sixth Canadian Geotechnical Colloquium: Advances in visualization of geotechnical processes through digital image correlation

Abstract

Digital image correlation (DIC) is an image-processing technique that calculates fields of incremental displacement by comparing two digital images and locating numerous small regions in both images to high subpixel accuracy. This technique is particularly well suited to the visualization of geotechnical failure processes such as the plastic collapse of a shallow foundation or the evolution of failure within a physical model landslide as it can yield full-field displacements at high spatial and temporal resolution. The adoption of digital image correlation methods by the geotechnical engineering community over the past 15 years has therefore provided researchers with a transformative tool for the visualization of failure mechanisms and the quantification of soil and soil–structure interaction behaviour within physical model experiments. The objective of this Canadian Geotechnical Colloquium is to provide an updated review of the factors that affect accuracy and precision of the technique and to highlight selected recent advances and emerging uses of DIC in geotechnical engineering applications with particular emphasis on geotechnical physical modelling and field monitoring.