Effect of sampling volume on the measurement of soil physical properties: Simulation with x-ray tomography data

Philippe Baveye, Helmut Rogasik, Ole Wendroth, Ingrid Onasch, John W. Crawford

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

71 Scopus citations

Abstract

The dependence of macroscopic soil parameters on sampling volume is currently the object of renewed research focus. In this paper, x-ray computed tomography data related to cores obtained in two different locations in a field soil are used to simulate this dependence. Several integration methods are adopted, to mimic different measuring devices. Calculation results, relative to the volumetric water content, volumetric air content, gravimetric water content and dry bulk density, demonstrate that the size (up to 60 × 60 × 30 mm3), shape and positioning of sampling volumes influence significantly the measured values of soil parameters. In some cases, the instrumental dependence disappears within a range of sampling volumes, in agreement with a hypothesis underlying the so-called representative elementary volume concept. However, some parameters, like the soil bulk density, do not level off with increasing sampling volumes. These observations open new avenues for research on measurement processes in soils and other heterogeneous media.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)775-784
Number of pages10
JournalMeasurement Science and Technology
Volume13
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - May 2002

Bibliographical note

Copyright:
Copyright 2017 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

Keywords

  • Computed tomography
  • Environmental monitoring
  • Hydrology
  • Sampling
  • Soil bulk density
  • Soil moisture

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Instrumentation
  • Engineering (miscellaneous)
  • Applied Mathematics

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