International Society for Industrial Process Tomography

Nondestructive Analysis of Soil Physical Properties by Combining X – Ray and Gamma – Ray CT Methodology

A. C. G. Fonseca¹, L. F. Costa¹, J. M. B. F Araújo¹, E. S. Barbosa^1*, C. C. Dantas¹, A. C. D. Antonino¹ and R. J. Heck²

¹Universidade Federal de Pernambuco – DEN/UFPE, Recife, PE, Brazil.

²School of Environmental Sciences, University of Guelph, Ontario, Canadá.

^*Email: enivaldo.santos@ufpe.br / enivaldo.sb@gmail.com

ABSTRACT

Nondestructive testing using CT transmission measurements improve current methods for investigation of the soil physical characteristics. Computational tomography methods using X – Ray and Gamma – Ray transmission measurements are supported by theory and observation that mass attenuation coefficient is independent of the chemical composition of the material, for light elements at intermediate photon energy. To match uncertainties in nondestructive soil physical properties analysis in (X, γ) tomography a study comprising soil simulation and preparing phantoms of basic components is presented is this work. The soil main components and their proportion are SiO₂ (40 – 90%), Al₂O₃ (5 – 20%) e Fe₂O₃ (2 – 20%). Phantom provides a simulation of soil samples in a particulate medium close to soil density. By comparison, of transmission measurement with XCOM database values for density and mass attenuation coefficient a maximum error of 2.2 percent was found. The Hounsfield attenuation of simulated soils as a function of X-Ray intensity was evaluated. Combining (X, γ) CT improves precision in the radiometric basic parameters as density and mass attenuation coefficient. Microtomography, phantom the soil, Hounsfield Attenuation and additional filtration.

Industrial Applicationagricultural and oil industry.