Analysis of an Image-Based Method to Quantify the Size and Shape of Sand Particles
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 139, Issue 8
Abstract
Sand response depends on particle morphology (size and shape). In geotechnical research and practice, size is typically assessed by sieve analysis and particle shapes are qualitatively described. Technological developments mean that digital images of sand particles can easily be obtained, enabling shape to be quantified. The complexity associated with many digital image analysis algorithms seems to have restricted their use to fundamental research studies. This study introduces a pragmatic approach for quantitative shape analysis that has the potential to be broadly adopted in geotechnical engineering research and practice. The approach generates three shape measures (convexity, sphericity, and aspect ratio) that can easily be calculated from digital images. Following an analysis of these shape measures and the imaging method used here, a database of 36 sands, including many of the sands commonly used in geotechnical research, is presented. The subjective nature of qualitative description is clear from the discrepancies that were found in published shape assessments of these sands. Convexity, sphericity, and aspect ratio data for each of the 36 sands are presented. The relevance of these parameters to geotechnical engineering is established by comparing them with widely used qualitative descriptions.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
The authors acknowledge the support of a number of academics from other institutions who provided sand samples to develop the database presented in Table 2. These included M. Bolton, University of Cambridge; R. Kuwano, University of Tokyo; E. Ibraim, University of Bristol; and M. Riemer, University of Berkeley. The QICPIC apparatus was funded by the EPSRC (Grant No. EP/F068778/1).
References
Abbireddy, C. O. R., and Clayton, C. R. I. (2009). “A review of modern particle sizing methods.” Proc., Instit. Civil Eng. Geotech. Eng., 162(4), 193–201.
Allen, T. (1997). Particle size measurement. Vol.1: Powder sampling and particle size measurement, 5th Ed., Chapman & Hall, London.
Alshibli, K. A., and Alsaleh, M. I. (2004). “Characterizing surface roughness and shape of sands using digital microscopy.” J. Comput. Civ. Eng., 18(1), 36–45.
Alshibli, K. A., Batiste, S. N., and Sture, S. (2003). “Strain localization in sand: Plane strain versus triaxial compression.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 129(6), 483–494.
Alvarado Gutierrez, G. (2007). “Influence of late cementation on the behaviour of reservoir sands.” Ph.D. thesis, Imperial College London, London.
Arthur, J. R. F., and Menzies, B. K. (1972). “Inherent anisotropy in a sand.” Geotechnique, 22(1), 115–128.
ASTM. (1990). “Description and identification of Soils (visual-manual procedure).” D2488, West Conshohocken, PA.
Barrett, P. J. (1980). “The shape of rocks particles, a critical review.” Sedimentology, 27(3), 291–303.
Been, K., Jefferies, M. G., Crooks, J. H. A., and Rothenburg, L. (1987). “The cone penetration test in sands: Part II, general inference of state.” Geotechnique, 37(3), 285–299.
Bolton, M. D., et al. (1999). “Centrifuge cone penetration tests in sand.” Geotechnique, 49(4), 543–552.
Bowman, E., Soga, K., and Drummond, W. (2001). “Particle shape characterization using Fourier descriptor analysis.” Geotechnique, 51(6), 545–554.
British Standards Institute. (1997). “Tests for geometrical properties of aggregates. Part 1: Determination of particle size distribution—Sieving method.” BS EN 933-1:1997, London.
Cavarretta, I. (2009). “The influence of particle characteristics on the engineering behaviour of granular materials.” Ph.D. thesis, Dept. Civil and Environmental Engineering, Imperial College London, London.
Cavarretta, I., O’Sullivan, C., and Coop, M. (2010). “The influence of particle characteristics on the behaviour of coarse grained soils.” Geotechnique, 60(6), 413–423.
Chan, K. S. (2007). “The influence of particle shape on the behaviour of an ideal soil.” M.Sc. dissertation, Dept. Civil and Environmental Engineering, Imperial College London, London.
Cho, G. C., Dodds, J., and Santamarina, J. C. (2006). “Particle shape effects on packing density, stiffness, and strength: Natural and crushed sands.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 132(5), 591–602.
Clark, M. W. (1981). “Quantitative shape analysis: A review.” Math. Geol., 13(4), 303–320.
Clayton, C. R. I., Xu, M., and Bloodworth, A. (2006). “A laboratory study of the development of earth pressures behind integral bridge abutments.” Geotechnique, 56(8), 561–572.
Consoli, N. C., Cruz, R. C., Floss, M. F., and Festugato, L. (2010). “Parameters controlling tensile and compressive strength of artificially cemented sand.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 136(5), 759–763.
Cresswell, A. W., and Barton, M. E. (2003). “Direct shear tests on an uncemented, and a very slightly cemented, locked sand.” Quart. J. Eng. Geol. Hydrogeol., 36(2), 119–132.
Cudmani, R., and Osinov, V. A. (2001). “The cavity expansion problem for the interpretation of cone penetration and pressuremeter tests.” Can. Geotech. J., 38(3), 622–636.
Dano, C., Hicher, P.-Y., and Tailliez, S. (2004). “Engineering properties of grouted sands.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 130(3), 328–338.
Delfosse-Ribay, E., Djeran-Maigre, I., Cabrillac, R., and Gouvenot, D. (2006). “Factors affecting the creep behavior of grouted Sand.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 132(4), 488–500.
Fonseca, J. (2011). “The evolution of morphology and fabric of a sand during shearing.” Ph.D. thesis, Dept. Civil Engineering, Imperial College London, London.
Georgiannou, V. N., Tsomokos, A., and Stavrou, K. (2008). “Monotonic and cyclic behaviour of sand under torsional loading.” Geotechnique, 58(2), 113–124.
Hagerty, M. M., Hite, D. R., Ullrich, C. R., and Hagerty, D. J. (1993). “One-dimensional high-pressure compression of granular media.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 119(1), 1–18.
Hamlin, S. (2009). “Particle size and shape of volcanic soils.” M.Sc. dissertation, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Imperial College London, London.
Herle, I., and Gudehus, G. (1999). “Determination of parameters of hypoplastic constitutive model from properties of grain assemblies.” Mech. Cohes.-Frict. Mater., 4(5), 461–486.
Holtz, R. D., and Kovacs, W. D. (1981). An introduction to geotechnical engineering, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ.
Hoque, E., and Tatsuoka, F. (2004). “Effects of stress ratio on small-strain stiffness during triaxial shearing.” Geotechnique, 54(7), 429–439.
Hyodo, M., Nakata, Y., Kuwajima, K., Yoshimoto, N., and Kato, Y. (2002). “Effect of fines and crushability on liquefaction of volcanic soil ‘Shirasu’.” Proc., 12th (2002) Int. Offshore and Polar Eng. Conf., International Society of Offshore and Polar Engineers, Kitajyushu, Japan, 52–535.
ISO. (2008). “Representation of results of particle size analysis—Part 6: Descriptive and quantitative representation of particle shape and morphology.” ISO 9276-6:2008, Geneva.
Joudi, A. (2008). “A reassessment of standard laboratory sands.” M.Sc. dissertation, Imperial College London, London.
Kenney, T. C., and Lau, D. (1985). “Internal stability of granular filters.” Can. Geotech. J., 22(2), 215–225.
Kiyota, T., De Silva, L. I. N., Sato, T., and Koseki, J. (2007). “Small strain deformation characteristics of granular materials in torsional shear and triaxial tests with local deformation measurements.” Soil Stress-Strain Behavior: Measurement, Modeling and Analysis. Springer, Dordrecht, Netherlands, 557–566.
Kohata, Y., et al. (1997). “Modelling the non-linear deformation properties of stiff geomaterials.” Geotechnique, 47(3), 563–580.
Konagai, K., Tamura, C., Rangelow, P., and Matsushima, T. (1992). “Laser-aided tomography: A tool for visualization of changes in the fabric of granular assemblage.” Struct. Eng./Earthq. Eng., 9(3), 193–20.
Kongkitkul, W., et al. (2008). “Modelling and simulation of rate-dependent stress-strain behaviour of granular materials in shear.” Soils Found., 48(2), 175–194.
Krumbein, W. C., and Sloss, L. L. (1963). Stratigraphy and sedimentation, 2nd Ed., Freeman, San Francisco.
Labinski, E. (2011). “The influence of digital image resolution on the quantification of sand particle morphology.” M.Eng. thesis, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Imperial College London, London.
Lee, K. L., and Seed, H. B. (1967). “Drained strength characteristics of sands.” J. Soil Mech. and Found. Div., 93(6), 117–141.
Lings, M. L., and Dietz, M. S. (2004). “An improved direct shear apparatus for sand.” Geotechnique, 54(4), 245–256.
Loukidis, D., and Salgado, R. (2009). “Modeling sand response using two-surface plasticity.” Comput. Geotech., 36(1–2), 166–186.
MacLeod, N. (2002). “Geometric morphometrics and geological shape-classification systems.” Earth Sci. Rev., 59(1), 27–47.
MathWorks. (2011). “MATLAB Image Processing Toolbox.” 〈http://www.mathworks.com/products/image/〉.
McCave, I. N., and Syvitski, J. P. M. (1991) “Principles and methods of geological particle size analysis.” Principles, methods, and application of particle size analysis, J. P. M. Syvitski, ed., Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, U.K, 3–21.
Mitchell, J. K., and Soga, K. (2005) Fundamentals of soil behavior, Wiley, New York.
Pestana, J. M., and Salvati, L. A. (2006). “Small strain behavior of granular soils: I. Model for cemented and uncemented sands and gravels.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 132(8), 1071–1081.
Pestana, J. M., and Whittle, A. J. (1995). “Compression model for cohesionless soils.” Geotechnique, 45(4), 611–631.
Plona, T. J., and Cook, J. M. (1995). “Effects of stress cycles on static and dynamic Young’s moduli in Castlegate sandstone.” Proc., 35th Rock Mechanics Symp., Daemen and Schultz, eds., Balkema, Rotterdam, Netherlands.
Powers, M. C. (1953). “A new roundness scale for sedimentary particles.” J. Sediment. Res., 23(2), 117–119.
Puech, A., and Foray, P. (2002). “Refined model for interpreting shallow penetration CPTs in sands.” Proc., 2002 Offshore Technol. Conf., OTC, 14275.
Rhodes, M. (2000). Introduction to particle technology, Wiley, Chichester, U.K.
Robertson, P. K., et al. (2000). “The Canadian liquefaction experiment: An overview.” Can. Geotech. J., 37(3), 499–504.
Robertson, P. K., Sasitharan, S., Cunning, J. C., and Sego, D. C. (1995). “Shear-wave velocity to evaluate in-situ state of Ottawa sand.” J. Geotech. Eng., 121(3), 262–273.
Rouse, P. C., Fannin, R. J., and Shuttle, D. A. (2008). “Influence of roundness on the void ratio and strength of uniform sand.” Geotechnique, 58(3), 227–231.
Sadek, T. (2006). “The multi-axial behaviour and elastic stiffness of Hostun sand.” Ph.D. thesis, Dept. of Civil Engineering, Univ. of Bristol, Bristol, U.K.
Salvati, L. A., and Anhdan, L. Q. (2008). “Rate-dependent response of dense sand in cyclic triaxial tests.” Soils Found., 48(3), 447–451.
Saxena, S. K., and Reddy, K. R. (1989). “Dynamic moduli and damping ratios for Monterey No. 0 sand by resonant column tests.” Soils Found., 29(2), 37–51.
Schneider, C. A., Rasband, W. S., and Eliceiri, K. W. (2012). “NIH Image to ImageJ: 25 years of image analysis.” Nature Methods, 9, 671–675.
Shire, T., and O’Sullivan, C. (2013). “Micromechanical assessment of filter stability.” Acta Geotech, 8(1), 81–90.
Sukumaran, B., and Ashmawy, A. (2001). “Quantitative characterization of discrete particles.” Geotechnique, 51(7), 619–627.
Sympatec. (2008). Windox—operating instructions release 5.4.1.0, Sympatec, Clausthal-Zellerfeld, Germany.
Takahashi, A., and Jardine, R. J. (2007). “Assessment of standard research sand for laboratory testing.” Quart. J. Eng. Geol. Hydrogeol., 40(1), 93–103.
Tatsuoka, F., Di Benedetto, H., Enomoto, T., Kawabe, S., and Kongkitkul, W. (2008). “Various viscosity types of geomaterials in shear and their mathematical expression.” Soils Found., 48(1), 41–60.
Tejchman, J., and Niemunis, A. (2006). “FE-studies on shear localization in an anistropic micro-polar hypoplastic granular material.” Granul. Matter, 8(3–4), 205–220.
Uthayakumar, M., and Vaid, Y. P. (1998). “Static liquefaction of sands under multiaxial loading.” Can. Geotech. J., 35(2), 273–283.
Wadell, H. A. (1932). “Volume, shape, and roundness of rock particles.” J. Geol., 40(5), 1074–1106.
White, D. J. (2003). “PSD measurement using the single particle optical sizing (SPOS) method.” Geotechnique, 53(3), 317–326.
Wijewickreme, D., Sriskandakumar, S., and Byrne, P. (2005). “Cyclic loading response of loose air-pluviated Fraser River sand for validation of numerical models simulating centrifuge tests.” Can. Geotech. J., 42(2), 550–561.
Witt, W., Köhler, U., and List, J. (2004). “Direct imaging of very fast particles opens the application of the powerful (dry) dispersion for size and shape characterization.” Proc., PARTEC 2004, Nürnberg, Germany.
Yamamuro, J. A., Wood, F. M., and Lade, P. V. (2008). “Effect of depositional method on the microstructure of silty sand.” Can. Geotech. J., 45(11), 1538–1555.
Yang, J. (2006). “Influence zone for end bearing of piles in sand.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 132(9), 1229–1237.
Yang, Z. X., Jardine, R. J., Zhun, B. T., Foray, P., and Tsuha, C. H. C. (2010). “Sand grain crushing and interface shearing during displacement pile installation in sand.” Geotechnique, 60(6), 469–482.
Yasufuku, N., and Hyde, A. F. L. (1995). “Pile end-bearing capacity in crushable sands.” Geotechnique, 45(4), 663–676.
Yoshida, S., Johnson, H. D., Pye, K., and Dixon, R. J. (2004). “Transgressive changes from tidal estuarine to marine embayment depositional systems.” AAPG Bull., 88(10), 1433–1460.
Youd, T. (1972). “Factors controlling maximum and minimum densities of sands.” Evaluation of relative density and its role in geotechnical projects involving cohesionless soils, E. T. Selig and R. S. Ladd, eds., ASTM, West Conshohoken, PA, 98–112.
Zeiss. (2007). “Digital imaging—Topography.” 〈http://www.zeiss.co.uk/4125681F004E2140/EmbedTitelIntern/AxioVisionforMaterials/$File/AxioVision_Materials.pdf〉 (Nov. 1, 2007).
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 139 • Issue 8 • August 2013
Pages: 1290 - 1307
Copyright
© 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Sep 5, 2011
Accepted: Oct 22, 2012
Published ahead of production: Oct 23, 2012
Published online: Oct 24, 2012
Published in print: Aug 1, 2013
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.