Quantification of Sediment Properties from Pore Structure and Grain Contacts: A Microcomputed Tomography Analysis of SAX04 Sands

Abstract

During the Sediment Acoustic eXperiment (SAX04), sediment physical properties (e.g., porosity and permeability), determined by the arrangement of sand grains and the topology of the pore space, were evaluated in two ways: first, packing density in unconsolidated sand was adjusted from minimum to maximum density by vibration; and second, diver-collected cores were impregnated with polyester casting resin to maintain pore and grain morphologies. Sediment pore-morphology and grain data was captured in volumetric x-ray Computed Tomography (CT) images and quantified using a new grain-based algorithm. Porosity was calculated from the image data by voxel counting and permeability was determined using the Kozeny-Carman method, which is determined from porosity and grain size data. Grain contacts, an important determinant of frame modulus, were also determined.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 01, 2005
Accession Number
ADA455218

Entities

People

  • A. H. Reed
  • Brian T. Hefner
  • C. S. Willson
  • K. E. Thompson
  • Kevin B. Briggs
  • M. D. Richardson

Organizations

  • United States Naval Research Laboratory

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Ground and Sea Platforms
  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Acoustics
  • Algorithms
  • Divers
  • Fluids
  • Frequency
  • Grain Size
  • High Resolution
  • Measurement
  • Military Research
  • Permeability
  • Physical Properties
  • Porosity
  • Sediments
  • Shallow Water
  • Tomography
  • X Rays
  • X-Ray Computed Tomography

Fields of Study

  • Materials science

Readers

  • Geotechnical Engineering.
  • Medical Imaging.
  • Reinforced Composite Materials

Technology Areas

  • Space