Acta Stereologica Acta Stereologica -  Volume 12 (1993)  Number 2 - Proceedings of the sixth European congress for stereology - Part one - Dec. 1993 

Form analysis software by image processing: applications to clay particles and soil structure

Gérard Touchard, 
Laboratoire de Physique et Mécanique des Fluides – U.R.A. 191 du C.N.R.S. 40 Avenue du Recteur Pineau – 86022 Poitiers cedex, France
Abdelmajid Badri, 
Laboratoire de Physique et Mécanique des Fluides – U.R.A. 191 du C.N.R.S. 40 Avenue du Recteur Pineau – 86022 Poitiers cedex, France
Bruce Velde, 
Laboratoire de Géologie – E. N. S. – U.R.A. 1316 du C.N.R.S. – 24 rue Lhomont – 75005 Paris, France
Laurence Caillon, 
L.A.T.D.I. – J.E. 270, D.S. 4 du C.N.R.S. – Université Française du Pacifique – BP4635 – Papeete, Tahiti Polynésie Française
Jacques Borzeix, 
L.A.T.D.I. – J.E. 270, D.S. 4 du C.N.R.S. – Université Française du Pacifique – BP4635 – Papeete, Tahiti Polynésie Française

Abstract

A software has been performed in order to determine form parameters of particles. This software could be used on a PC with a scanner. The image is first scanned and stored in a Tag Image File Format, as a binary image compressed or not. Then, it is displayed on the screen of the PC which is used to monitor the whole process.

A set of erosions and dilatations as well as several transformations issued from mathematical morphology are used with different kind of elements of various size, in order to restore the image. Then the outline of each particle is detected and analysed.

This analyse point out the most significant points of the outline which characterise the particle. These points are those for which the outline has the greater direction change.

All along the process it is possible to visualise the different operations, thus the outline is drawn in a different colour and the most significant points also. More, at any moment it is possible to have a zoom on a part of the particle analysed, and to get the form parameters which have been computed.

This software can be used for any investigation for which form analysis of particles is needed. In the case of geology we have applied it for two different studies.

The first one is to classify clay particles in order to understand their evolution.

The second one is to determine the structure of soils at different depths. For that, images of several horizontal slices of soil have been analysed.

Keywords : clay particles, form analysis, image processing, soil structure

Pour citer cet article

Gérard Touchard, Abdelmajid Badri, Bruce Velde, Laurence Caillon & Jacques Borzeix, «Form analysis software by image processing: applications to clay particles and soil structure», Acta Stereologica [En ligne], Volume 12 (1993), Number 2 - Proceedings of the sixth European congress for stereology - Part one - Dec. 1993, 263-268 URL : https://popups.uliege.be/0351-580x/index.php?id=1733.