X-Ray Computed Tomography to Measure Bed Density in Sand Transport
Publication: Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
Volume 148, Issue 12
Abstract
This paper reports a new experimental method applying medical X-ray computed tomography (CT) to estimate the bed load in sand transport. A set of current-generated sand ripple experiments were conducted in a small hydraulic flume inserted in the CT scanner. The methodology is based on the measurements of height, velocity, and density of bed forms to estimate bed load. A temporal series of bed topography is first extracted from the CT scan images. The velocity is estimated by tracking the displacement of bed forms from two successive bed topographies. The sand bed density () is estimated from the CT scan measurements using a calibration technique. The method measuring to calculate bed load is validated comparing measurements made with sand traps. The advantages and limitations of the CT method applied to bed-load transport are discussed.
Practical Applications
Sediment transport is a fundamental physical process in Earth Sciences. It refers to the movement of sediment grains transported by water currents and deposited where or when water flow ends. This cycle seems at first inoffensive but could impact millions of human lives all around the world. River floods, sea-level rise, and storms are likely to modify the landscape of many populated areas located nearby in the next decades. A better understanding of sediment transport processes would greatly benefit our capacity to determine the impact of those extreme events on river and coastal morphology. To achieve this, physical models are used in laboratories to simulate sediment dynamics at a smaller scale. These results help researchers developing numerical models of sediment transport to better predict river dynamics as well as the movement of coastlines. This study is an insight on the application of new laboratory techniques using advanced three-dimensional imaging technique as an effort to contribute to our knowledge of sediment dynamics.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Data Availability Statement
All data, models, or code generated or used during the study are available in a repository or online in accordance with funder data retention policies (Brunelle 2021).
Acknowledgments
This research was possible thanks to a CFI grant and a Research Chair in Coastal and fluvial engineering from the Ministère de la Sécurité publique et le Ministère des Transports of Québec Province, both awarded to Bernard Long. Corinne Brunelle also received support from Québec-Océan, a strategic cluster funded by FRQNT. This study was also partially supported by INRAE, as well as the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region through the CMIRA ExploraPro financial support (B. Camenen) and CMIRA Coopera financial support, and by a Canada Research Chair Tier1 in Environmental sedimentology awarded to PF. The authors would like to thank Pascal Bernatchez, Yves Secretan, Jan Franssen, and Bernard Long for fruitful discussions. The authors would also like to thank the two anonymous reviewers.
References
Bevington, P. R., and D. K. Robinson. 2003. Data reduction and error analysis. 3rd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Blanckaert, K., J. Heyman, and C. D. Rennie. 2017. “Measuring bedload sediment transport with an acoustic Doppler velocity profiler.” J. Hydraul. Eng. 143 (6): 04017008. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)HY.1943-7900.0001293.
Brooks, R. A., and G. Di Chiro. 1976. “Beam hardening in X-ray reconstructive tomography.” Phys. Med. Biol. 21 (3): 390. https://doi.org/10.1088/0031-9155/21/3/004.
Brunelle, C. 2019. “Apport de la tomodensitométrie à l’étude du transport sédimentaire.” [In French.] Ph.D. thesis, Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique, Université du Québec.
Brunelle, C. 2021. “X-ray computed tomography to measure real-time porosity in bedload transport experiment.” Accessed December 15, 2021. https://borealisdata.ca/dataset.xhtml?persistentId=doi:10.5683/SP2/SUNA2L#.
Brunelle, C., B. Long, P. Francus, L.-F. Daigle, M. Desroches, and H. Takayama. 2015. “Wave-sediment interaction imaging with X-ray tomography: A small-scale experiment to characterize the artefacts.” In Proc., 2nd Int. Conf. on Tomography of Materials and Structures. Québec: Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique.
Camenen, B., and M. Larson. 2005. “A general formula for non-cohesive bed load sediment transport.” Estuaries Coastal Shelf Sci. 63 (1–2): 249–260. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecss.2004.10.019.
Camenen, B., E. Perret, C. Brunelle, P. Francus, M. Des Roches, and L.-F. Daigle. 2017. “Dynamics of a fine and coarse sediment mixture using a medical CT scan.” In Proc., 10th RCEM Symp. Trento, Italy: Univ. of Trento.
Di Schiavi Trotta, L., D. Matenine, M. Martini, K. Stierstorfer, Y. Lemaréchal, P. Francus, and P. Després. 2022. “Beam-hardening corrections through a polychromatic projection model integrated to an iterative reconstruction algorithm.” NDT&E Int. 126 (Mar): 102594. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ndteint.2021.102594.
Griffin, L. D., P. Elangovan, A. Mundell, and D. C. Hezel. 2012. “Improved segmentation of meteorite micro-CT images using local histograms.” Comput. Geosci. 39 (Feb): 129–134. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cageo.2011.07.002.
Hodge, R. A., H. Voepel, J. Leyland, D. A. Sear, and S. Ahmed. 2020. “X-ray computed tomography reveals that grain protrusion controls critical shear stress for entrainment of fluvial gravels.” Geology 48 (2): 149–153. https://doi.org/10.1130/G46883.1.
Holmes, R. R., Jr. 2010. Measurement of bedload transport in sand-bed rivers: A look at two indirect sampling methods. Reston, VA: USGS.
Hsieh, J. 2009. Computed tomography: Principles, design, artifacts, and recent advances. Bellingham, WA: SPIE Press.
Hurther, D., P. D. Thorne, M. Bricault, U. Lemmin, and J. M. Barnoud. 2011. “A multi-frequency acoustic concentration and velocity profiler (ACVP) for boundary layer measurements of fine-scale flow and sediment transport processes.” Coastal Eng. 58 (7): 594–605. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.coastaleng.2011.01.006.
Kastengren, A., and C. F. Powell. 2014. “Synchrotron X-ray techniques for fluid dynamics.” Exp. Fluids 55 (3): 1686. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00348-014-1686-8.
Ketcham, R. A., and W. D. Carlson. 2001. “Acquisition, optimization and interpretation of X-ray computed tomographic imagery: Applications to the geosciences.” Comput. Geosci. 27 (4): 381–400. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0098-3004(00)00116-3.
Ketcham, R. A., and R. D. Hanna. 2014. “Beam hardening correction for X-ray computed tomography of heterogeneous natural materials.” Comput. Geosci. 67 (Jun): 49–61. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cageo.2014.03.003.
Ketcham, R. A., and G. J. Iturrino. 2005. “Nondestructive high-resolution visualization and measurement of anisotropic effective porosity in complex lithologies using high-resolution X-ray computed tomography.” J. Hydrol. 302 (1–4): 92–106. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2004.06.037.
Khorram, S., and M. Ergil. 2011. “Determining the predominant governing parameters of the bed-load equations for sediment-laden rivers on the continental shelf.” J. Coastal Res. 27 (2): 276–290. https://doi.org/10.2112/JCOASTRES-D-09-00127.1.
Khosravi, K., A. H. Chegini, A. D. Binns, P. Daggupati, and L. Mao. 2019. “Difference in the bed load transport of graded and uniform sediments during floods: An experimental investigation.” Hydrol. Res. 50 (6): 1645–1664. https://doi.org/10.2166/nh.2019.078.
Mayar, M. A., G. Schmid, S. Wieprecht, and M. Noack. 2020. “Proof-of-concept for nonintrusive and undisturbed measurement of sediment infiltration masses using gamma-ray attenuation.” J. Hydraul. Eng. 146 (5): 04020032. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)HY.1943-7900.0001734.
McElroy, B., and D. Mohrig. 2009. “Nature of deformation of sandy bed forms.” J. Geophys. Res. Earth Surf. 114 (F3): F00A04. https://doi.org/10.1029/2008JF001220.
Mrokowska, M. M., P. M. Rowiński, L. Książek, A. Strużyński, M. Wyrębek, and A. Radecki-Pawlik. 2018. “Laboratory studies on bedload transport under unsteady flow conditions.” J. Hydrol. Hydromech. 66 (1): 23–31. https://doi.org/10.1515/johh-2017-0032.
Muste, M., S. Baranya, R. Tsubaki, D. Kim, H. Ho, H. Tsai, and D. Law. 2016. “Acoustic mapping velocimetry.” Water Resour. Res. 52 (5): 4132–4150. https://doi.org/10.1002/2015WR018354.
Nikuradse, J. 1933. “Strömungsgesetze in rauhen rohren forschhft.” Ver. Dt. Ing. 36 (10): 1–62.
Otani, J., and Y. Obara. 2004. “X-ray CT for geomaterials: Soils, concrete, rocks.” In Proc., Int. Workshop on X-ray CT for Geomaterials. Amsterdam, Netherlands: A.A. Balkema.
Roberts, J. D., R. A. Jepsen, and S. C. James. 2003. “Measurements of sediment erosion and transport with the adjustable shear stress erosion and transport flume.” J. Hydraul. Eng. 129 (11): 862–871. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9429(2003)129:11(862).
Scarano, F. 2012. “Tomographic PIV: Principles and practice.” Meas. Sci. Technol. 24 (1): 012001. https://doi.org/10.1088/0957-0233/24/1/012001.
Shields, A. 1936. “Anwendung der Aehnlichkeitsmechanik und der Turbulenzforschung auf die Geschiebebewegung.” [In German.] Ph.D. thesis, Wasserbau und Schiffbau, Technical Univ. Berlin.
Soulsby, R. 1983. “The bottom boundary layer of shelf seas.” In Vol. 35 of Elsevier oceanography series, 189–266. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0422-9894(08)70503-8.
Soulsby, R., R. J. S. Whitehouse, and K. V. Marten. 2012. “Prediction of time-evolving sand ripples in shelf seas.” Cont. Shelf Res. 38 (Apr): 47–62. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.csr.2012.02.016.
Stierstorfer, K., A. Rauscher, J. Boese, H. Bruder, S. Schaller, and T. Flohr. 2004. “Weighted FBP—A simple approximate 3D FBP algorithm for multislice spiral CT with good dose usage for arbitrary pitch.” Phys. Med. Biol. 49 (11): 2209. https://doi.org/10.1088/0031-9155/49/11/007.
Tilston, M., R. Arnott, C. Rennie, and B. Long. 2015. “The influence of grain size on the velocity and sediment concentration profiles and depositional record of turbidity currents.” Geology 43 (9): 839–842. https://doi.org/10.1130/G37069.1.
Tsubaki, R., S. Baranya, M. Muste, and Y. Toda. 2018. “Spatio-temporal patterns of sediment particle movement on 2D and 3D bedforms.” Exp. Fluids 59 (6): 93. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00348-018-2551-y.
Yalin, M. S. 1972. Mechanics of sediment transport, 298. Oxford, UK: Pergamon Press.
Yamada, F., R. Tateyama, G. Tsujimoto, S. Suenaga, B. Long, and C. Pilote. 2013. “Dynamic monitoring of physical models beach morphodynamics and sediment transport using X-ray CT scanning technique.” Supplement, J. Coastal Res. 165 (S2): 1617–1622. https://doi.org/10.2112/SI65-273.1.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
© 2022 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Dec 28, 2021
Accepted: Jul 19, 2022
Published online: Oct 6, 2022
Published in print: Dec 1, 2022
Discussion open until: Mar 6, 2023
ASCE Technical Topics:
- Bed forms
- Bed loads
- Bed materials
- Chemical processes
- Chemistry
- Computing in civil engineering
- Environmental engineering
- Geomatic surveys
- Geomatics
- Geomechanics
- Geotechnical engineering
- Hydrologic engineering
- Hydrology
- Land surveys
- Radiation
- River and stream beds
- River engineering
- Rivers and streams
- Sand (hydraulic)
- Sandy soils
- Soil mechanics
- Soils (by type)
- Topographic surveys
- Water and water resources
- X rays
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.