Image uncertainty components in video strain measurement of mortar destructive compression testing

This paper describes a video strain measurement solution developed for application in mortar destructive compression testing. Knowledge about the mechanical behavior of this type of construction material, namely up to its fracture, is still superficial due to the less common use of non-contact measurement methods. The performed research was focused on the determination of image coordinate accuracy, based on the experimental quantification of the identified main uncertainty components, using traceable reference patterns, and validated computational toolboxes dedicated to camera parameterization and digital image processing. The obtained results show the following uncertainty contributions: lens distortion- negligible; re-projection errors- 0.21 pixel; 0.10 pixel- spatial resolution; and digital image processing operations- 0.28 pixel. The combination of these uncertainty components resulted in an image coordinate standard uncertainty equal to 0.36 pixel, which was propagated (in addition to the scale coefficient measurement uncertainty) to the selected camera model - orthographic projection with uniform scaling - which supports the video strain measurement.