Arza García, MarcosNúñez Temes, CarlosLorenzana Fernández, José AntonioOrtiz Sanz, JuanCastro Ponte, AlbertePortela Barral, MaríaGil Docampo, María de la LuzBastos Costas, Guillermo2022-06-302022-06-302022Archives of Civil and Mechanical Engineering 22, 4 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s43452-021-00325-0http://hdl.handle.net/10347/28864Due to their cost, high-end commercial 3D-DIC (digital image correlation) systems are still inaccessible for many laboratories or small factories interested in lab testing materials. These professional systems can provide reliable and rapid full-field measurements that are essential in some laboratory tests with high-strain rate events or high dynamic loading. However, in many stress-controlled experiments, such as the Brazilian tensile strength (BTS) test of compacted soils, samples are usually large and fail within a timeframe of several minutes. In those cases, alternative low-cost methods could be successfully used instead of commercial systems. This paper proposes a methodology to apply 2D-DIC techniques using consumer-grade cameras and the open-source image processing software DICe (Sandia National Lab) for monitoring the standardized BTS test. Unlike most previous studies that theoretically estimate systematic errors or use local measures from strain gauges for accuracy assessment, we propose a contrast methodology with independent full-field measures. The displacement fields obtained with the low-cost system are benchmarked with the professional stereo-DIC system Aramis-3D (GOM GmbH) in four BTS experiments using compacted soil specimens. Both approaches proved to be valid tools for obtaining full-field measurements and showing the sequence of crack initiation, propagation and termination in the BTS, constituting reliable alternatives to traditional strain gauges. Mean deviations obtained between the low-cost 2D-DIC approach and Aramis-3D in measuring in-plane components were 0.08 mm in the perpendicular direction of loading (ΔX) and 0.06 mm in the loading direction (ΔY). The proposed low-cost approach implies considerable savings compared to commercial systemseng© The Author(s) 2021. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/DICBrazilian tensile strengthStereo visionGOMCamera calibrationFull-feld measurementsjournal article10.1007/s43452-021-00325-01644-9665open access