I-Corps: Soil Fines Content Measuring Device

这个i-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是开发一种设备，可以准确地测量现场的罚款内容。该技术旨在为岩土工程行业减少传统实验室检测方法的时间和成本。土壤中细粒的数量往往控制着地质构造的微观行为和宏观反应。在岩土工程中的广泛应用会受到土壤中细微物质的存在的显著影响，例如，地基设计、土结构的渗流分析、井介电常数的评估、材料对借料场的适用性以及地基的液化势。因此，现场识别土的类型及其基本性质在岩土工程中具有重要意义。拟议的设备是一种便携式、低成本的解决方案，可以提供实时数据，使现场调查期间能够更快、更有效地做出决策。对土壤颗粒分布的数据进行了分析和解释，对工程公司、材料检测企业、监管机构和环境监测机构具有一定的参考价值。建议的技术可以帮助现场调查和环境监测的效率、准确性和成本效益。这最终将为基础设施项目和环境管理带来更高的质量和安全。这个i-Corps项目基于一项技术的开发，该技术通过测量粗粒到细粒土壤部分的相对体积来评估土壤含量中的细小颗粒估计原理。目前，为了评估土壤特性，需要进行广泛的实验室测试，主要包括粒度分析。开发并测试了一种专用装置，将所提出的基于体积的原理来测量粉尘与标准样品洗涤方法进行比较以验证测量结果。研究表明，该装置具有±5的高精度，可用于土壤中细粒含量的测量。此外，与需要几个小时才能完成的标准洗涤测试的结果相比，该设备被发现是省时的，需要5到15分钟才能完成。建议的设备基于体积的原则可能会减少对广泛实验室测试的需求，减少对传统测试方法的依赖，并在该领域提供快速结果。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of a device to accurately measure fines content in the field. The proposed technology is aimed at the geotechnical engineering industry to reduce the time and cost of traditional laboratory testing methods. The amount of fines in soils often controls the microscopic behavior as well as the macro response of geologic formations. A wide spectrum of applications in geotechnical engineering can be appreciably affected by the presence of fine material in soils, e.g., foundation design, seepage analyses for earth structures, evaluation of well permittivity, material suitability for borrow sites, and liquefaction potential of foundations. Therefore, field identification of soil types and their basic characteristics is of great importance in geotechnical engineering. The proposed device is a portable, low-cost solution to provide real-time data, allowing faster and more efficient decision-making during site investigations. Data analysis and interpretation of the soil particle size distribution is included do, which will be helpful to engineering firms, material testing businesses, regulatory organizations, and environmental monitoring organizations. The proposed technology may help site investigation and environmental monitoring efficiency, accuracy, and cost-effectiveness. This will ultimately result in higher quality and safety for infrastructure projects and environmental management.This I-Corps project is based on the development of a technology to assess the principle of estimating fines in soil content by measuring relative volumes of coarse-grained to fine-grained soil fractions. Currently, for evaluation of soil characteristics, extensive laboratory testing comprised primarily of grain size analysis is needed. A dedicated device was developed and tested comparing the proposed volume-based principle to measure fines to the standard sample washing methods to verify the measurements. The study indicated the device provided high accuracy of ± 5 and showed that the device is comparable for measuring fines content in soils. In addition, compared with the results of the standard wash tests that take a few hours to perform, the proposed device was found to be time efficient, taking 5 to 15 minutes to complete. The proposed device's volume-based principle may reduce the need for extensive laboratory testing, reducing reliance on traditional testing methods and providing rapid results in the field.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.