3rd World Conference on Applied Sciences,

Engineering and Technology

27-29 September 2014

The application of imaging technique to study

segregation and aggregate orientation in cement concrete
ARSALAAN KHAN1, RAWID KHAN2
Faculty member, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Engineering & Technology Peshawar
Pakistan.
Email: 1engr.arsalaan@gmail.com, 2rawid806@gmail.com
Abstract: Segregation and orientation of aggregate affects the performance of cement concrete. Image analysis
technique was applied to study orientation and segregation of aggregates in hardened concrete. Samples
prepared from 1 inch and 1 inch down aggregate both in laboratory and in situ were scanned for images.
Samples with steel bars were also scanned to understand the effect of reinforcement. From image analysis of the
data, it was found that the value of segregation is not similar for laboratory, and site prepared samples. The
values are varying through the height of the samples and there is high segregation near the edges compared to
the midpoint of sample.
Keywords: Image analysis, ImageJ, threshold, segregation, regional orientation
1 Introduction & Literature Review
The orientation and distribution of aggregates have a
significant effect on the performance of concrete
mixtures. The internal structure of asphalt concrete
pavements plays a vital role in its resistance to
distress, which include rutting and cracking due to
fatigue, low temperature and thermal changes (E.
Masad B. M., 1999).
Different mechanical properties of asphalt and
concrete mixtures are obtained with specimens
having the same air voids content and mix design.
This difference is due to aggregate orientation and
segregation as function of particle size and shape,
position in the sample, and mode of compaction, that
have significant influence on asphalt mixture
performance (Alistair E. Hunter, 2004). The method
of compaction has a direct impact on the aggregate
orientation and internal structure of an asphalt
mixture (A.E. Hunter, 2004). The quantification of
the aggregate matrix of an asphalt mixture specimen
is an important and difficult task because of its
composite structure and three-dimensional form. The
asphalt matrix is a composite of three phases: air,
mastic and aggregate, each of which may be
described by their distribution, shape properties and
segregation within any given specimen (Alistair E.
Hunter, 2004). Image analysis has made it possible to
quantitatively define and study the aggregate matrix
and asphalt and concrete specimens. Different image
processing procedures can be applied to distinguish
the aggregate particles from the background for
image analysis. Circumferential particle orientation
occurs mostly in gyratory and vibratory compacted
specimens, and to a lesser extent in slab, compacted
specimens (Alistair E. Hunter, 2004). Mastic is a
combination of asphalt binder and fines, which are
particles passing sieve # 200 (i.e. sizes finer than 75
microns). The proportions, distribution, and
interactions of these three phases define the micro
mechanical behavior of asphalt concrete pavements
(H.M. Zelelew, 2008).

Recent studies show that the microstructure of

asphalt mixtures can be quantified using image
analysis techniques. This approach allows the
aggregate structure to be accurately and nondestructively visualized at the microstructure level.
Past work shows that the gradation curves obtained
after image analysis on different specimens
compacted via different methods give almost same
results as coarse particles are mostly concentrated at
the bottom compared to the top of the specimen, the
overall average orientation angles for the whole
specimen is around 50, showing random orientation
in the specimens, and the aggregates in the outer
section of the specimen tend to form circumferential
alignment whereas randomly aligned in the inner
section (Norhidayah , 2014).
The objective of this research is to develop, and
apply the image analysis technique for studying the
segregation and orientation of coarse aggregates in
cement concrete in laboratory and in situ, and with
and without reinforcement.
2 Methodology
The methodology consists of experimental work
involving preparation of samples and the
development of the image analysis program in
ImageJ software.
2.1 Mix design and aggregate gradation
All the coarse and fine aggregates used in the
preparation of concrete samples were used after
making sure they follow ASTM C33 requirements for
size and gradation (Figure 1, 2).

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ARSALAAN KHAN, RAWID KHAN

Field representative concrete was prepared following
the same mix design ratio for 1 and 1 down
concrete, used for lab prepared samples. This was
done to study the effect of cylinders wall on
hardened concrete properties.

Figure 1. Gradation curve for 1 lab samples

(coarse aggregate).

Figure 4. 12 deep field concrete slabs, 1" down on

right and 1" down on left...
Two slabs of 1 inch and 1 inch down concrete were
prepared. These slabs were 25 long, 21 wide and
12 deep. The length and depth were decided so that
to extract five cores from each slab, and its depth was
decided to be as of laboratory cylinder samples, for
depth-wise similarity.

Figure 2. Gradation curve for 1 and 1" lab

samples (fine aggregate).
2.2 Preparation of lab and field representative
concrete
Sample of 1 inch and 1 inch down aggregate were
prepared in laboratory. Additionally, samples with
reinforcement bars were also prepared to study the
effect of reinforcement on aggregate segregation and
orientation (Figure 3. 4).
Laboratory concrete samples in controlled
environment were prepared 3000 psi. Mix design and
proportioning was done using Absolute Volume
method of the ACI code. Two cylinders out of five
for each concrete type were tested for crushing
strength via universal testing machine whereas the
rests were cut at bottom, middle and top levels for
acquiring the images.

2.3 Preparation of reinforced concrete samples

As the effect of reinforcement on aggregates
orientation and segregation was the desired objective
this study, concrete samples having steel bars were
prepared for the purpose and then to cut along the
cross-section at the required levels. A problem faced
in preparing these samples was that the samples
could not be cut along the cross section with the
available cutter that was only capable of cutting
concrete, and not the steel bars. This was resolved by
using straight rubber pipes of the same outer diameter
as of the steel bars. These pipes were kept straight
during pouring of concrete in the cylinder by
inserting a straight steel rod in the rubber pipes that
were removed from the pipes after the concrete had
got hardened. A total of three No 4 (1/2 inch) size
steel bars were placed with plastic pipes in cylinder
2.4 Core's extraction Field representative
samples
Two cores out of the five extracted cores (Figure 5)
were tested for compressive strength.

Figure 5. Cores' extraction from slabs in progress.

Figure 3. Lab representative samples.

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2.5 Cutting process of samples
The locations of cutting were marked on the samples
once they were ready. The samples were cut at
from the bottom and top level, and also at the midlevel, so as to acquire images at these locations for
further study. The top and bottom covers were
important to be removed so that the aggregate
particles become visible for image acquisition.
Providing proper nomenclature to the samples was
very important because it becomes impossible to
distinguish once the sample is cut. Similarly, it
cannot be identified whether the surface is the upper,
middle or lower one unless not mentioned on the
samples before cutting.

Figure 6. View of reinforced cylinders and field core

samples after being cut at required levels.
2.6 Images acquisition process
After the process of cutting all samples at required
levels, images were then acquired with flatbed
scanner.

perimeters, etc. are calculated in units of square

pixels, and feret angle, etc. in decimal degrees. The
software was also used to crop the images acquired
so that the concrete cross sections could be
magnified, for further analysis. Figure 7 shows a
sample output image generated by ImageJ. The
aggregates are labeled, and the data is exported to
spreadsheet. Macro was developed in ImageJ that
was run on each image loaded in the software. This
macro applied the necessary filters and converts the
image into binary image and then detects the
boundary of all aggregates and then labels them and
calculates the required data and displays in
spreadsheet for further manipulation.
2.8 Concrete samples with reinforcements
Three steel bars were used in each cylinder sample in
the vertical direction. The images acquired of these
samples were enhanced such that a black-colored
circle was marked on the reinforcement, as shown in
Figure 8. The actual image of the steel bar is also
shown. After making the necessary enhancement,
these images were further analyzed in ImageJ, the
reinforcement bars were also detected as aggregates
in the analysis. The reinforcement's ID is the
identification number of boundary of reinforcement
in concrete cross section. These IDs were deleted
from the obtained set of data of aggregate boundaries
as it is not representing the aggregate. This data was
deleted from the data set of the rest of aggregates, so
that the effect of reinforcement on the aggregates
available in the sample at a specific level could be
studied.

Figure 8. Selection process of the steel bar in the

cross-sectional image. First (L/s) is the actual
image, with steel bar covered with plastic pipe, (R/s)
is with bars filled with black color
3 Results
From the image analysis the segregation and
orientation values were determined for the various
types of mixed used in this study.
Figure 7. Image acquired showing air voids, mastic
and aggregate
2.7 Data acquisition & Image analysis
2D images were processed to study the effect of
concrete preparation in controlled and uncontrolled
environments on aggregates orientation and
segregation.
Image analysis was performed on these images with
Image J the image analysis software (Abramoff,
2004). Analyses was done based on pixels and
degrees of the input image. For example, the area,

3.1 Peripheral segregation

The peripheral segregation is the sector-wise percent
distribution of aggregates. The X and Y coordinates
of each aggregate in the image are taken with
reference to center of the cross-section (2D image) of
concrete cylinder. These coordinates are used to
measure the angle subtended by the aggregates
centroid from 0 line. The cross-section is divided
into 36 sectors each of 10. The number of
aggregates lying in each sector are counted and
shown on radar plot, in which the sector-wise

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distribution of aggregates at bottom, middle and top
levels could be compared. Maximum value of
peripheral segregation is the largest number of
aggregates in any sector of a fixed area of crosssectional image. This value was found 6% at bottom,
8% at middle and 7% at top. In comparison to this,
the values for 1 down concrete samples were found
as 7%, 5% and 6%. In case of 1 down slab
concrete cores, the maximum values of peripheral
segregation in the bottom, middle and top levels are
9%, 6% and 5%.
For slab concrete of 1 down aggregate at site, the
values obtained are 5%, 6% and 5%. The values in
case of 1 down reinforced concrete are 5%, 6% and
5%.
3.2 Regional segregation
The regional segregation results divide the cross
section in inner and outer regions. The hypotenusal
distance from the centroid of cross-section is
measured from the coordinates for the centroid of
each aggregate. Aggregates are said to lie in inner
region if this distance is less than half of the crosssectional radius, and vice versa. Results obtained for
1 down laboratory concrete sample one bottom,
middle and top zones were that 24%, 29% and 22%
aggregates lie in the inside region of the sample. The
mean for 1 down lab samples was found as 26%
aggregates lying in the inside region of samples.
The values for 1 down concrete controlled specimen
sample 1 were 28%, 34% and 26%, making the
average as 29%.
For cores from slab prepared at site, the inner region
segregation values for 1 down concrete slab core
specimen 1 were 13%, 26% and 39%.
For 1 down field cores from slab, the values
obtained for first sample are 18%, 22% and 31%.
The regional segregation difference in 1 down and
1 down samples is negligible (1%) in case of
uncontrolled samples, the same was the result
obtained in case of controlled samples.
The values of inner side regional segregation of 1
down lab reinforced are 21%, 22% and 20%. The
values for 1 down reinforced are 25%, 24% and
28%.
100
79

70 74

80
60
40

Bottom
30 26

20
0

IN

Middle

Top

21

90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0

82 78
69

Bottom

31

Middle

Top

18 22

IN

OUT

Figure 10. Regional segregation results for 1 down

field samples.
3.3 VSA orientation
The VSA orientation is calculated by making groups
of ranges of visible surface area of all aggregates in
each image and then finding the weighted orientation
angle for that area group. Since the aggregate area
calculations performed in this project are in units of
square pixels, therefore the minimum and maximum
limits for each group are from 0 to 35,000 for first
group, from 35,001 to 70,000 for the second group,
from 70,001 to 105,000 for third group and from
105,001 to 140,000 square pixels for fourth group
respectively. Weighted orientation angle is calculated
for all of these four groups by finding out the
summation of aggregates area lying in each group,
then finding out the product of summation of area
and orientation angles of all aggregates for that
group, and then calculating the weighted orientation
angle by dividing product of summation of area and
orientation angles over summation of area. These
results are then plotted, giving slope of linear trend
line connecting the four values. This slope shows the
trend of increasing or decreasing orientation angle
from bottom to top of each sample.
The VSA orientation for different concrete types was
compared. In case of 1 down lab concrete sample,
the average orientation angle in case of bottom
aggregates is 49, middle aggregates is 76, and top
aggregates is 50.
For 1 down lab concrete, the orientation comes are
46, 23 and 52. The orientation in case of 1
down slab cores for bottom, middle and top sample
no. 1 are 56, 86 and 69.
For 1 down field cores, the average orientation
angles are 62, 45 and 64. For the case of using
reinforcement in controlled specimens, the
orientation angle gradients for 1 down controlled
sample at bottom, middle and top are 79, 59 and
70 respectively. The orientation angle for 1 down
core field sample are 79, 68 and 77.

OUT

Figure 9. Regional segregation results for 1 down

lab samples.

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100
80
60
Bottom
Linear (Bottom)
40
Weighted Orientation Angle 20
0
Middle
Linear (Middle)

Top

Linear (Top)
Average VSA

Figure 11. VSA orientation results for 1 down lab

samples.
120
100
80
Bottom
Linear (Bottom)
60
40
Weighted Orientation Angle 20
0
Middle
Linear (Middle)

angle of inclination is less than 45, and

circumferential if the angle is greater than 45. The
aggregates tending to form radial orientation in case
of 1 down concrete are 59% at bottom, 59% at
middle and 59% at top.
The results achieved for 1 down controlled samples
forming radial orientation are 57%, 59% and 63%.
The regional orientation study is further conducted in
uncontrolled field slab core samples. Values for
radially aligned aggregates are 78%, 65%, and 63%.
The results obtained for radially oriented aggregates
of 1 down slab core are 61%, 68% and 64%.
The effect of reinforcement in lab samples on
regional orientation was studied and was compared
with those of unreinforced samples. 1 down
reinforced samples radial orientation results are 65%,
53% and 65%. The results for 1 down reinforced lab
are 71%, 65% and 62%.
70

65

60
Top

Linear (Top)
Average VSA

65
53
47

50
40

Figure 12. VSA orientation results for 1 down lab

samples.

30

35

35
Middle

Bottom

Top

20
10

120
100
Bottom

Linear 80
(Bottom)

Weighted Orientation Angle

40
Linear (Middle)
20
0

Top

100,000
Linear (Top)
- 200,000
Average VSA

CIRCUMFERENTIAL

Figure 14. Regional orientation results for lab

samples with steel bars in 1 down concrete
laboratory samples.

60
Middle

RADIAL

70

66

64

60

60

50
40

Figure 13. Overall results of VSA orientation.

30

34
Bottom

Middle

36

40
Top

20

3.4 Regional orientation

The regional orientation tells how much percent of
aggregates tend to form radial or circumferential
orientation. The angle of inclination with respect to
the centroidal origin of the cross-section is calculated
for every aggregate from its ferret angle, which is the
inclination angle of the longest axis of the aggregate.
This angle of inclination tells whether the aggregate
is radially or circumferentially oriented. Aggregates
are said to be radially oriented if the ferret axis is
parallel to the radius of the cross-section, otherwise,
the aggregates will be circumferentially oriented. The
orientation of aggregates will be called as radial if the

10
0

RADIAL

CIRCUMFERENTIAL

Figure 15. Regional orientation results for lab

samples with steel bars in 1 down concrete
laboratory samples.

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Top

Average orientation angle for 1 down

concrete was more than that of 1 down in
uncontrolled samples.
Using reinforcements in laboratory specimens
make aggregates tend to form circumferential
orientation rather than radial, no matter if larger
or smaller sized aggregates are used.
Larger sized aggregates get more radially
oriented than smaller sized aggregates with the
introduction of reinforcement in concrete.

Acknowledgments
The authors are duly thankful to the staff of
Earthquake Engineering Center and Concrete
Laboratory, University of Engineering & Technology
Peshawar, for their help in preparing and testing of
samples.
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Middle

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Bottom

Figure 16. Typical distribution of aggregate in

concrete (1 inch down mix) samples at bottom,
middle and top.
4 Conclusions
From laboratory testing and image analysis, the
following are concluded.
Image analysis technique can reliably be used for
estimating aggregate segregation and orientation.
Reinforcement in controlled samples affect value
of maximum peripheral segregation in overall
larger sized aggregate particles.
Around 25% aggregates were observed to lie in
inner region in almost all reinforced samples,
and samples made with larger sized particles
exhibit circumferential orientation and radial
orientation in case of smaller sized aggregates.

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ARSALAAN KHAN, RAWID KHAN

[9] ImageJ User Guide IJ 1.46r by Tiago Ferreira
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