Water Distribution Variation in Partially Saturated Granular Materials Using Neutron Imaging
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 138, Issue 2
Abstract
The use of neutron imaging is demonstrated for visualizing and quantifying water distribution in partially saturated granular porous media. Because of the unique difference in the total neutron cross sections of water, sand, and air, a significant contrast for the three phases is observed in a neutron transmission image, and a quantitative analysis provides detailed information on the arrangement and distribution of particles, voids, and water. The experiments in this study are performed at the Neutron Imaging Facility (NIF) at the National Institute of Standard and Technology (NIST). An amorphous silicon flat panel detector was used in this research with a spatial resolution of approximately 250 μm (). The effect of particle morphology on water distribution in compacted granular columns is investigated by using round and angular silica sand. Silica sand specimens with different bulk gravimetric water contents (0%, 6%, 9%, and 12%) are studied for evaluating the water phase-distribution spatially for compacted sand specimens in an aluminum cylinder.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the U.S. Dept. of Commerce, the NIST Ionizing Radiation Division, the Director’s office of NIST, the NIST Center for Neutron Research, and the Dept. of Energy interagency agreement No. UNSPECIFIEDDE-AI01-01EE50660.
References
Al-Raoush, R., and Alshibli, K. A. (2006). “Distribution of local void ratio in porous media systems from 3D X-ray microtomography images.” Physica A (Amsterdam), 361(2), 441–456.
Al-Raoush, R. I., and Willson, C. S. (2005). “A pore-scale investigation of a multiphase porous media system.” J. Contam. Hydrol., 77(1–2), 67–89.
Alshibli, K. A. et al. (2000). “Assessment of localized deformations in sand using X-ray computed tomography.” Geotech. Test. J., 23(3), 274–299.
Arif, M., Hussey, D. S., and Jacobson, D. L. (2008). “Neutron imaging for the hydrogen economy.” Neutron imaging and applications, I. S. Anderson, R. L. McGreevey, and H. Z. Bilheux, eds., Springer, New York.
Barranco, F. T., Dawson, H. E., Christener, J. M., and Honeyman, B. D. (1997). “Influence of aqueous pH and ionic strength on the wettability of quartz in the presence of dense nonaqueous-phase liquids.” Environ. Sci. Technol., 31(3), 676–681.
de Beer, F. C., and Middleton, M. F. (2006). “Neutron radiography imaging, porosity, and permeability in porous rocks.” S. Afr. J. Geol., 109(4), 541–550.
Desrues, J., Chambon, R., Mokni, M., and Mazerolle, F. (1996). “Void ratio evolution inside shear bands in triaxial sand specimens studied by computed tomography.” Géotechnique, 46(3), 529–546.
Han, J., Jin, Y., and Willson, C. S. (2006). “Virus retention and transport in chemically heterogeneous porous media under saturated and unsaturated flow conditions.” Environ. Sci. Technol., 40(5), 1547–1555.
Hassanein, R., Lehmann, E., and Vontobel, P. (2005). “Methods of scattering corrections for quantitative neutron radiography.” Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res., Sect. A, 542(1–3), 353–360.
Hassanein, R., Meyer, H. O., Carminati, A., Estermann, M., Lehmann, E., and Vontobel, P. (2006). “Investigation of water imbibition in porous stone by thermal neutron radiography.” J. Phys. D, 39(19), 4284–4291.
Hussey, D. S., Jacobson, D. L., Arif, M., Coakley, K. J., and Vecchia, D. F. (2010). “In situ fuel cell water metrology at the NIST neutron imaging facility.” J. Fuel Cell Sci. Technol., 7(2), 021024–021030.
Jaeger, H. M., Nagel, S. R., and Behringer, R. P. (1996). “Granular solids, liquids, and gases.” Rev. Mod. Phys., 68(4), 1259–1273.
Jasti, J. K., and Fogler, H. S. (1992). “Application of neutron radiography to image flow phenomena in porous media.” AIChE J., 38(4), 481–488.
Kak, A. C., and Slaney, M. (2001). Principles of computerized tomographic imaging, Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, Philadelphia.
Kohonen, M. M., Geromichalos, D., Scheel, M., Schier, C., and Herminghaus, S. (2004). “On capillary bridges in wet granular materials.” Physica A (Amsterdam), 339(1–2), 7–15.
Lanza, R. C. (2008). “Homeland security and contraband detection.” Neutron imaging and applications, I. S. Anderson, R. L. McGreevey and H. Z. Bilheux, eds., Springer, New York.
Lewis, J. T., and Krinitzsky, E. L. (1976). “Neutron radiation in the study of soil and rock.” Practical applications of neutron radiography and gaging, H. Berger, ed., American Society for Testing and Materials, Baltimore, MD, 241–251.
Lopes, R. T., Bessa, A. P., Braz, D., and de Jesus, E. F. O. (1999). “Neutron computerized tomography in compacted soil.” Appl. Radiat. Isot., 50(2), 451–458.
Lu, N., Zeidman, B. D., Lusk, M. T., Willson, C. S., and Wu, D. T. (2010). “A Monte Carlo paradigm for capillarity in porous media.” Geophys. Res. Lett., 37(23), L23402–L23407.
Milczarek, J. J., Czachor, A., Abd El-Ghany, E. A., and Wisniewski, Z. (2005). “Dynamic neutron radiography observations of water migration in porous media.” Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res., Sect. A, 542(1–3), 232–236.
Nakanishi, T. M. (2008). “Neutron imaging applied to plant physiology.” Neutron imaging and applications, I. S. Anderson, R. L. McGreevey and H. Z. Bilheux, eds., Springer, New York.
Oda, M., Takemiura, T., and Takahashi, M. (2004). “Microstructure in shear band observed by microfocus X-ray computed tomography.” Géotechnique, 54(8), 539–542.
Penumadu, D. (2008). “Material science and engineering with neutron imaging.” Neutron imaging and applications, I. S. Anderson, R. L. McGreevey and H. Z. Bilheux, eds., Springer, New York.
Penumadu, D., Dutta, A., Luo, X., and Thomas, K. (2009). “Nano and neutron science applications for geomechanics.” KSCE J. Civ. Eng., 13(4), 233–242.
Pleinert, H., and Degueldre, C. (1995). “Neutron radiographic measurement of porosity of crystalline rock samples: A feasibility study.” J. Contam. Hydrol., 19(1), 29–46.
Scheel, M. et al. (2008). “Morphological clues to wet granular pile stability.” Nat. Mater., 7(3), 189–193.
Schiffer, P. (2005). “Granular physics: A bridge to sandpile stability.” Nat. Phys., 1(1), 21–22.
Schnaar, G., and Brusseau, M. L. (2005). “Pore-scale characterization of organic immiscible-liquid morphology in natural porous media using synchrotron X-ray microtomography.” Environ. Sci. Technol., 39(21), 8403–8410.
Trabold, T. A., Owejan, J. P., Gagliardo, J. J., Jacobson, D. L., Hussey, D. S., and Arif, M. (2009). “Use of neutron imaging for proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC).” Handbook of fuel cells, W. Vielstich, H. A. Gasteiger and H. Yokokawa, eds., Wiley, West Sussex, England.
Tullis, B. P., Lindsay, J. T., and Wright, S. J. (1994). “The imaging of wetting front instabilities in porous media using neutron radioscopy.” Nondestr. Test. Eval., 11(2–3), 97–106.
Vlassenbroeck, J., Dierick, M., Masschaele, B., Cnudde, V., Van Hoorebeke, L., and Jacobs, P. (2007). “Software tools for quantification of X-ray microtomography at the UGCT.” Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res., Sect. A, 580(1), 442–445.
Watkin, K. L., Bilheux, H. Z., and Ankner, J. F. (2008). “Probing the potential of neutron imaging for biomedical and biological applications.” Neutron imaging and applications, I. S. Anderson, R. L. McGreevey and H. Z. Bilheux, eds., Springer, New York.
Wellington, S. L., and Vinegar, H. J. (1987). “X-ray computerized tomography.” J. Pet. Technol., 39(8), 885–898.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 138 • Issue 2 • February 2012
Pages: 147 - 154
Copyright
© 2012 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Oct 18, 2010
Accepted: Jun 16, 2011
Published online: Jun 18, 2011
Published in print: Feb 1, 2012
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.