Visualization analysis of concrete crack detection in civil engineering infrastructure based on knowledge graph

Civil engineering infrastructure (such as buildings, roads, and underground tunnels) inevitably sustains varying degrees of damage over time, which can pose significant threats to both structural integrity and human safety. Cracks are among the most common and concerning types of damage encountered. Therefore, timely and accurate inspection and evaluation of cracks are essential to ensure the safety and maintainability of these structures. Proactive crack detection and assessment enable early identification of potential issues, allowing for effective interventions that can prevent catastrophic failures and extend the lifespan of critical infrastructure. In recent years, researchers have been devoted to the exploration of concrete crack detection, which has produced a large number of papers. To better promote the development of the field of concrete crack detection, it is very important to review the literature in this field. Therefore, by using VOSviewer and CiteSpace text mining tools, this study analyzes and visualizes the scientometrics data extracted from the article from the perspective of bibliometrics. Based on 1592 papers published in 23 years, the paper analyzes the number of papers published, the sources of papers, the frequency of citations, the main authors, the research institutions, and the research hotspots of the concrete crack detection of Civil engineering infrastructure. The results of this study show that Song, GB, Aggelis, DG, Zhu, HP, et al. are the main contributors to the research of concrete crack detection. It can be seen from the types of issuing institutions that the research institutions engaged in concrete crack detection are mainly universities. The publishing institutions are predominantly located in Asia, reflecting the region's contributions to research output. The research focuses on the keywords "deep learning", "structural health monitoring", "acoustic emission" and "finite element". In the future, it is essential to strengthen collaboration between different research institutions and disciplines, fostering theoretical innovation and practical applications. This integrated approach will inject new vitality into the field of concrete crack detection research.