Three dimensional quantification of soil hydraulic properties using X-ray Computed Tomography and image based modelling
Three dimensional quantification of soil hydraulic properties using X-ray Computed Tomography and image based modelling
We demonstrate the application of a high-resolution X-ray Computed Tomography (CT) method to quantify water distribution in soil pores under successive reductive drying. We focus on the wet end of the water release characteristic (WRC) (0 to -75 kPa) to investigate changes in soil water distribution in contrasting soil textures (sand and clay) and structures (sieved and field structured), to determine the impact of soil structure on hydraulic behaviour. The 3D structure of each soil was obtained from the CT images (at a 10 µm resolution). Stokes equations for flow were solved computationally for each measured structure to estimate hydraulic conductivity. The simulated values obtained compared extremely well with the measured saturated hydraulic conductivity values. By considering different sample sizes we were able to identify that the smallest possible representative sample size which is required to determine a globally valid hydraulic conductivity.
matric potential, soil pores, water release characteristic, x-ray computed tomography, imaged based homogenisation
Tracy, S.R.
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Daly, Keith R.
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Sturrock, C.J.
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Crout, N.M.J.
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Mooney, S.J.
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Roose, Tiina
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Tracy, S.R.
5f53aa52-ef11-42e2-bf7b-e6d6ca15485d
Daly, Keith R.
64f85c2e-2562-44df-9cb8-1be7fbc7e74c
Sturrock, C.J.
1884de3b-1817-4889-92b2-8aa5c701c86a
Crout, N.M.J.
49012027-0ea8-4a1a-99a7-e37ef80d7969
Mooney, S.J.
dcb9de63-b047-46cb-aca9-2843f520ebc2
Roose, Tiina
3581ab5b-71e1-4897-8d88-59f13f3bccfe
Tracy, S.R., Daly, Keith R., Sturrock, C.J., Crout, N.M.J., Mooney, S.J. and Roose, Tiina
(2015)
Three dimensional quantification of soil hydraulic properties using X-ray Computed Tomography and image based modelling.
Water Resources Research.
(In Press)
Abstract
We demonstrate the application of a high-resolution X-ray Computed Tomography (CT) method to quantify water distribution in soil pores under successive reductive drying. We focus on the wet end of the water release characteristic (WRC) (0 to -75 kPa) to investigate changes in soil water distribution in contrasting soil textures (sand and clay) and structures (sieved and field structured), to determine the impact of soil structure on hydraulic behaviour. The 3D structure of each soil was obtained from the CT images (at a 10 µm resolution). Stokes equations for flow were solved computationally for each measured structure to estimate hydraulic conductivity. The simulated values obtained compared extremely well with the measured saturated hydraulic conductivity values. By considering different sample sizes we were able to identify that the smallest possible representative sample size which is required to determine a globally valid hydraulic conductivity.
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Accepted/In Press date: 7 January 2015
Keywords:
matric potential, soil pores, water release characteristic, x-ray computed tomography, imaged based homogenisation
Organisations:
Bioengineering Group
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 373153
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/373153
ISSN: 0043-1397
PURE UUID: 553e3ebb-f0ef-41b5-8bb5-1f580592b716
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Date deposited: 12 Jan 2015 09:52
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:31
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Contributors
Author:
S.R. Tracy
Author:
Keith R. Daly
Author:
C.J. Sturrock
Author:
N.M.J. Crout
Author:
S.J. Mooney
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