Application of digital image technology for determining geometry, stratigraphy, and position of cracks inside earth slope

In the concept of cracked soils, one of the important factors for determining slope stability is the position of cracks. The position of cracks has been successfully obtained by other study using geoelectric testing. The geoelectric data produces several colors that describe the conditions of the slope geometry, soil stratigraphy, and the position of the cracks inside the slope. In order to improve the accuracy of reading geoelectric data for slope stability analysis, a digital image processing technique is proposed here. This digital image technology is applied by means of an auxiliary program based on the graphical user interface (GUI) that exists inside the MATLAB m-files and utilizing the option of RGB (Red, Green, Blue) color formats. With this technique, geoelectric data retrieval will take place automatically, thus it can be directly used as input for the slope stability analysis program to determine the value of the slope safety factor. The image processing technique in this study is based on using a straight-line equation to detect slope geometry, soil stratigraphy, and the position of cracks on slopes based on the geoelectric data. The simulation results in this study provide sufficiently accurate values of geoelectric data retrieval, which is to reach 5.78 cm/pixel. The larger the pixel size of the processed slope image, the higher the accuracy of the program outcomes. The results of this study will be later used for input in the new slope stability analysis based on cracked soil approaches utilizing digital image technology.