Supervised Machine Learning–Based Detection of Concrete Efflorescence

Abstract

The development of automated systems for detecting defects in and damage to buildings is ongoing in the construction industry. Remaining aware of the surface conditions of buildings and making timely decisions regarding maintenance are crucial. In recent years, machine learning has emerged as a key technique in image classification methods. It can quickly handle large amounts of symmetry and asymmetry in images. In this study, three supervised machine learning models were trained and tested on images of efflorescence, and the performance of the models was compared. The results indicated that the support vector machine (SVM) model achieved the highest accuracy in classifying efflorescence (90.2%). The accuracy rates of the maximum likelihood (ML) and random forest (RF) models were 89.8% and 87.0%, respectively. This study examined the influence of different light sources and illumination intensity on classification models. The results indicated that light source conditions cause errors in image detection, and the machine learning field must prioritize resolving this problem.

Keywords

• digital image
• supervised machine learning
• support vector machine
• maximum likelihood
• random forest
• efflorescence detection