Abstract: Soil physical properties are used for soil classification and hence serve as the first estimator of almost every mechanical and hydrologic soil behavior, but the usual laboratory testing method of estimating these physical properties is time consuming, burdensome, and somehow subjective, hence posing a challenge to geotechnical engineers and soil lab technicians. To minimize these shortfalls to an acceptable level and make the determination of soil physical properties more objective, this study utilized digital image processing and analysis (DIP&A) approach to establish relationships between the physical properties of soil (water content, density-wet bulk and dry, porosity, and void ratio) and the image feature of its fragmented aggregates identified as shape factors and recognized as aspect ratio and roundness in the study. Shape factors are used to describe the overall geometric characteristics of a particle. In this study, samples of soil were collected and laboratory test performed as per the American Society of Testing and Materials (ASTM) Standards to determine the physical properties and the same samples fragmented into appropriate sizes and their images acquired for image processing and analysis to determine the image feature. The physical properties of soil were statistically correlated and regressed against the image feature using appropriate regression model with the correlation coefficient (r) as the basis of the correlation. The r value varies from 0.5 to 0.6. The outputs of the regression analysis were curvilinear models that represent the relationship between soil physical properties and shape factors. The results of the digital image analysis were verified by conducting laboratory test and image analysis of soil sample collected from different site other than the one previously used to develop the relation models and the new values of the validated sample replaced in the developed models, resulting in a reasonable average percent error that varies from 1.05% to 3.57% between conventional laboratory testing and the proposed new method-DIP&A. The results indicate that DIP&A method proposed in the study appears to be a useful and promising method for estimating the physical properties of soil and was also shown to be a valuable tool for quantifying the geometric properties of soil aggregates.
Keywords: Soil, physical properties, fragmentation, digital image processing, shape factors.
Title: The Relationship between the Physical Properties of Soil and Shape Factors of its Fragmented Aggregates: A Two-Dimensional Digital Image Processing and Analysis Approach
Author: Benjamin Yiediboe, HE Lin, Yuan Jian, Liu Cong, Wang Zhenliang
International Journal of Engineering Research and Reviews
ISSN 2348-697X (Online)
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