Characterization of Particle Assemblies Through Digital Image Processing

Abstract

Imaging techniques are proving to be a viable alternative to mechanical sieving for determination of soil grain size distribution. While such distributions are relatively easily obtained when the soil grains are non-contacting, interpretation of in-situ images of contacting grains (assemblies) is considerably more difficult. As such, two approaches were developed for interpreting such images including: edge detection and completion by Hough transforms with active contouring; and pixel density analysis. A reasonably precise measure of grain size can be obtained using circular Hough transforms in conjunction with active contouring. However, the method is computationally very intensive and has only been tested on highly idealized assemblies of soil grains. Edge pixel densities (EPD) and their coefficients of variation with increasing sampling window size provide a rapid means for assessing grain sire and uniformity and for detection of soil interfaces within an image.

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Dec 24, 1997
Accession Number
ADA334849

Entities

People

  • Ali Ghalib
  • Roman D. Hryciw

Organizations

  • University of Michigan

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Assembly
  • Change Detection
  • Civil Engineering
  • Coefficients
  • Computer Vision
  • Data Analysis
  • Detection
  • Digital Image Processing
  • Digital Images
  • Engineering
  • Geotechnical Engineering
  • Grain Size
  • Gray Scale
  • Image Processing
  • Information Processing
  • Particles
  • Sampling

Readers

  • Aerosol Science/Aerosol Physics
  • Image Processing and Computer Vision.
  • Powder metallurgy of Titanium alloys.