The complex geometry and topology of soil is widely recognised as the key driver in many ecological processes. X-ray computed tomography (CT) provides insight into the internal structure of soil pores automatically an...The complex geometry and topology of soil is widely recognised as the key driver in many ecological processes. X-ray computed tomography (CT) provides insight into the internal structure of soil pores automatically and accurately. Until recently, there have not been methods to identify soil pore structures. This has restricted the development of soil science, particularly regarding pore geometry and spatial distribution. Through the adoption of the fuzzy clustering theory and the establishment of pore identification rules, a novel pore identification method is described to extract pore structures from CT soil images. The robustness of the adaptive fuzzy C-means method (AFCM), the adaptive threshold method, and Image-Pro Plus tools were compared on soil specimens under different conditions, such as frozen, saturated, and dry situations. The results demonstrate that the AFCM method is suitable for identifying pore clusters, especially tiny pores, under various soil conditions. The method would provide an optional technique for the study of soil micromorphology.展开更多
The geometric and spatial characteristics of pore structures determine the permeability and water retention of soils, which have important effects on soil functional diversity and ecological restoration. Until recentl...The geometric and spatial characteristics of pore structures determine the permeability and water retention of soils, which have important effects on soil functional diversity and ecological restoration. Until recently, there have not been tools and methods to visually and quantitatively describe the characteristics of soil pores. To solve this problem, this research reconstructs the geometry and spatial distribution of soil pores by the marching cubes method, texture mapping method and the ray casting method widely used in literature. The objectives were to explore an optimal method for three-dimensional visualization of soil pore structure by comparing the robustness of the three methods on soil CT images with single pore structure and porosity ranging from low (2–5%) to high (12–18%), and to evaluate the reconstruction performance of the three methods with different geometric features. The results demonstrate that there are aliases (jagged edges) and deficiency at the boundaries of the model reconstructed by the marching cubes method and pore volumes are smaller than the ground truth, whereas the results of the texture mapping method lack the details of pore structures. For all the soil images, the ray casting method is preferable since it better preserves the pore characteristics of the ground truth. Furthermore, the ray casting method produced the best soil pore model with higher rendering speed and lower memory consumption. Therefore, the ray casting method provides a more advanced method for visualization of pore structures and provides an optional technique for the study of the transport of moisture and the exchange of air in soil.展开更多
基金supported by the National Natural Science Youth Foundation of China(No.41501283)the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities(2015ZCQGX-04)
文摘The complex geometry and topology of soil is widely recognised as the key driver in many ecological processes. X-ray computed tomography (CT) provides insight into the internal structure of soil pores automatically and accurately. Until recently, there have not been methods to identify soil pore structures. This has restricted the development of soil science, particularly regarding pore geometry and spatial distribution. Through the adoption of the fuzzy clustering theory and the establishment of pore identification rules, a novel pore identification method is described to extract pore structures from CT soil images. The robustness of the adaptive fuzzy C-means method (AFCM), the adaptive threshold method, and Image-Pro Plus tools were compared on soil specimens under different conditions, such as frozen, saturated, and dry situations. The results demonstrate that the AFCM method is suitable for identifying pore clusters, especially tiny pores, under various soil conditions. The method would provide an optional technique for the study of soil micromorphology.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation Project(41501283)Beijing Science and Technology Plan Project(Z161100000916012)+2 种基金the National Key Research and Development Program(2017YFD0600901)Special Fund for Beijing Common Construction Projectthe Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities(2015ZCQ-GX-04)
文摘The geometric and spatial characteristics of pore structures determine the permeability and water retention of soils, which have important effects on soil functional diversity and ecological restoration. Until recently, there have not been tools and methods to visually and quantitatively describe the characteristics of soil pores. To solve this problem, this research reconstructs the geometry and spatial distribution of soil pores by the marching cubes method, texture mapping method and the ray casting method widely used in literature. The objectives were to explore an optimal method for three-dimensional visualization of soil pore structure by comparing the robustness of the three methods on soil CT images with single pore structure and porosity ranging from low (2–5%) to high (12–18%), and to evaluate the reconstruction performance of the three methods with different geometric features. The results demonstrate that there are aliases (jagged edges) and deficiency at the boundaries of the model reconstructed by the marching cubes method and pore volumes are smaller than the ground truth, whereas the results of the texture mapping method lack the details of pore structures. For all the soil images, the ray casting method is preferable since it better preserves the pore characteristics of the ground truth. Furthermore, the ray casting method produced the best soil pore model with higher rendering speed and lower memory consumption. Therefore, the ray casting method provides a more advanced method for visualization of pore structures and provides an optional technique for the study of the transport of moisture and the exchange of air in soil.
