Application of Digital Image Correlation Technique in Geotechnical Engineering

An optical measurement method called Digital Image Correlation (DIC) enables the accurate tracking of a surface or object's motion and deformation across time. To examine the behavior of materials and structures under varied loading circumstances, the approach is widely used in materials science, engineering, and biomechanics. In DIC, a high-speed camera is used to take a sequence of digital photographs of the item or surface of interest at various moments in time. The displacement and deformation of the item are then calculated from the photos using the pixel contrast of corresponding location on the photographs. In geotechnical engineering, DIC technique is recently gaining popularity. In the present study, a brief theory of DIC is presented. Further, the application of the DIC in failure mechanism of footing on sandy soil is examined. The developed failure wedge beneath the footing is compared with the theatrical concept. It was found that the DIC technique can successfully depict the actual failure mechanism of footing on slope. The future scope of this technique is also discussed in the paper.