New computer tools to quantify 3D porous structures in relation with hydraulic properties
Jean-François Delerue, EUGENE R. PERRIER, Allan Timmerman, Mathilde Rieu · 1999
Computer algorithms were developed to estimate the soil hydraulic properties from the structural microscopic organization of voids and solids in 3D soil core image. A classical pore network modeling approach was used on a network determined by new image analysis methods. These new methods were applied on the spatial distribution of the voids exhibited by a binary 3D image at a given resolution, to define a graph of connected, individualized pore objects of different sizes and shapes. Simplified assumptions about the physical behavior at the local pore scale, then integration by numerical simulation at the core scale enable the production of water retention and unsaturated hydraulic conductivity curves. Comparisons with experimental data were carried out, between hydraulic conductivity values measured at saturation and near saturation on a sandy loam soil core and simulated conductivity values obtained on the rather large pores visualized by computer tomography on the same core. The first results are presented here, to open a discussion on this on-going research.