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Geological Society, London, Special Publications; 2003; v. 215; p. 167-176;
DOI: 10.1144/GSL.SP.2003.215.01.15
© 2003 Geological Society of London

3D soil image characterization applied to hydraulic properties computation

J. F. Delerue1,2, E. Perrier1, A. Timmerman3 & R. Swennen4

1 UR Geodes, IRD, 32 avenue Henri Varagnat, 93143 Bondy Cedex, France delerue{at}bondy.ird.fr
2 Laboratory of Building Physics, K.U. Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 131, B-3001 Heverlee, Belgium
3 Institute for Land and Water Management, K.U. Leuven, Vital Decosterstraat 102, B-3000 Leuven, Belgium
4 Physico-chemical Geology, K.U. Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200C, B-3001 Heverlee, Belgium

We propose a novel method to characterize the fluid-filled (usually air or water) space in images of porous media at the pore scale. First, an aperture map is created based on a skeleton process, to describe all local sizes in the pore space. Then the pore space is segmented in pores, defined as elementary objects that compose the pore space. Using this segmented image, a pore network is created, which is a graphic representation of the pore space that includes local sizes and direct information about connectivity at the pore scale. As an application of this method for pore space modelling, the equivalent hydraulic conductivity or permeability for a soil sample is computed.