Measurement of local and volumetric deformation in geotechnical triaxial testing using 3D-digital image correlation and a subpixel edge detection algorithm

Based on the three-dimensional digital image correlation (3D-DIC) technique, the stereovision system has been applied to the improved triaxial apparatus to obtain 3D full-field deformation of the specimen during triaxial testing. Through the calibration process, the 3D-DIC technique can obtain the accurate specimen’s spatial displacement deformation. Meanwhile, a subpixel edge detection algorithm has been combined with 3D-DIC technique to calculate the radial strain and the volume strain of the specimen directly. Furthermore, a series of consolidated drained and undrained triaxial tests were carried out on Hainan (China) sand specimens and measured by the conventional and the image measurement methods. Compared to the results measured by the conventional method, the image measurement technique can obtain the more experimental data, such as the 3D displacement field of the whole specimen, the local strain distribution, and so on. The measurement results also show the conventional method would be disturbed by the end constraints in triaxial tests so that the strength of the soil would be overestimated. Meanwhile, the middle of the specimen would be selected to calculate the stress–strain relationship without the influence of the end constraints in the proposed method. Based on the image measurement results, the proposed method has the potential to be used in geotechnical tests for exploring the soil’s progressive failure behaviors, inhomogeneous deformation and mechanical characteristics.