Innovative procedures for monitoring experimental tests using photogrammetry and image processing have been recently proposed. This manuscript aims at providing a practical demonstration of the advantages of using these new techniques in experimental tests up to failure. In this scope, focus is given to the curvature, rotation and to the tension stiffening effect, i.e., the contribution of the concrete between cracks to increase the bending stiffness. These parameters are crucial to describe the structural behavior of reinforced concrete beams both in serviceability and in ultimate limit states. These new techniques allow monitoring a high number of points, enhancing the traditional monitoring methods and providing more information which would be impossible to obtain using the traditional methods.
curvature; plastic rotation; experimental tests; photogrammetry; image processing
