Estimating water content of saturated clay by soft X-ray digital radiography

Abstract

This study estimated water content of saturated clay using soft X-ray digital radiography (SXDR). The study focused on the relationship between water content and clay density. The water content of saturated clay can be calculated from its wet bulk density. The dry bulk den-sity of dried clay can be calculated by examining the aver-age gray levels of pixels in its soft X-ray image. The water content of saturated clay can also be estimated from its soft X-ray image if the wet bulk density of saturated clay can be estimated using the same technique. Experiments were conducted with the soft X-ray images of saturated kaolin and bentonite samples. The gravimetric and volumetric water contents estimated from these images were com-pared with observed values. The estimated values were in agreement with the observed values. This fact proved that the water content of saturated clay can be estimated by SXDR.