A numerical experiment on pore size,pore connectivity,water retention,permeability, and solute transport using network models

Network models are idealized geometrical representations of porous media. They allow the simulation of effective hydraulic properties and of solute transport for well‐defined porous structures. In this paper, the relation between pore structure and effective properties is studied using a network model which can be adjusted to predefined pore‐size distributions and pore topologies. I show that pore topology can be adjusted such that quite different pore‐size distributions lead to essentially identical water retention curves. This puts into question the common interpretation of the retention curve as being indicative of the pore‐size distribution. However, I also found that both the hydraulic conductivity and the dispersion of a solute depend on the water retention curve and not on the particular combination of pore‐size distribution and topology which make it up. This corroborates the widely used approach of inferring relative permeabilities from water retention data.     

Field determination of sorptivity as a function of water content using a tension infiltrometer

Sorptivity for tension wetting in the field was determined and weighted-mean diffusivity calculated. Both tension sorptivity and weighted-mean diffusivity could be described by an exponential function of the form aexp(bθ) where θ is either mean water content or dimensionless water content and a and b are parameters. This relation was valid for an initial water content between 0.016 and 0.047 m³ m^?3 and a final water content between 0.154 and 0.316 m³ m^?3. Tension sorptivity was more strongly correlated with average water content than dimensionless water content. However, in the case of weighted-mean diffusivity, the correlations with both dimensionless water content and average water content were almost the same.     

Quantification of pore structure and gas diffusion as a function of scale

The quantification of the spatial heterogeneity of soil structure is one of the main difficulties to overcome for an adequate understanding of soil processes. There are different competing concepts for the type of heterogeneity, including macroscopic homogeneity, discrete hierarchy or fractal. With respect to these different concepts we investigate the structure of the pore space in one single sample (4 × 10³ mm³) by analysing basic geometric quantities of the pores > 0.3 mm within gradually increasing subsamples. To demonstrate the relation between geometrical and functional properties we simulate gas diffusion within the three‐dimensional pore space of the different subsamples. An efficient tool to determine the geometric quantities is presented. As a result, no representative elementary volume (REV) is found in terms of pore‐volume density which increases with sample size. The same is true for the simulated gas diffusion coefficient. This effect is explained by two different types of pores, i.e. big root channels and smaller pores, having different levels of organization. We discuss the different concepts of structural organization which may be appropriate models for the structure investigated. We argue that the discrete hierarchical approach is the most profitable in practice.     

Air filter efficiency as a function of particle size and velocity

The air filtration theory demonstrates the existence of a minimum efficiency value for some aerosol particle sizes and velocities. Through experiments, many laboratories have sought to prove this efficiency minimum while using industrial filter pads. Generally used methods, involving monodisperse aerosol generation, are difficult to implement. The authors describe a laboratory experiment ready for semi-industrial application, thanks to the use of a new type of particle counter. A lightly poly dispersed soda-fluorescein (uranin) aerosol is used. Air filtration concepts are brought to mind and detailed experimental models are described, as well as findings with high-efficiency paper filters, alfa fiber filters, asbestos and fiberglass filters. Efficiency minimum occurs for 0.15 μm diameter sodafluorescein particles. Filtration velocity influence on efficiency is also demonstrated. Lastly, the authors compare known results with their soda-fluorescein aerosol and with sodium chloride aerosol findings.     

Physicochemical and structural properties of maize and potato starches as a function of granule size

Chemical composition, molecular structure and organization, and thermal and pasting properties of maize and potato starches fractionated on the basis of granule size were investigated to understand heterogeneity within granule populations. For both starches, lipid, protein, and mineral contents decreased and apparent amylose contents increased with granule size. Fully branched (whole) and debranched molecular size distributions in maize starch fractions were invariant with granule size. Higher amylose contents and amylopectin hydrodynamic sizes were found for larger potato starch granules, although debranched molecular size distributions did not vary. Larger granules had higher degrees of crystallinity and greater amounts of double and single helical structures. Systematic differences in pasting and thermal properties were observed with granule size. Results suggest that branch length distributions in both amylose and amylopectin fractions are under tighter biosynthetic control in potato starch than either molecular size or amylose/amylopectin ratio, whereas all three parameters are controlled during the biosynthesis of maize starch.     

聚乙烯包膜肥料控释膜层结构特征研究

【目的】包膜肥料控释膜层结构和孔隙性质直接影响其养分释放速率。研究包膜肥料膜层结构特征,可以明确膜层结构参数与养分释放速率的关系,揭示包膜肥料控释机制,为建立养分释放数理模型提供理论依据。【方法】以聚乙烯包膜肥料控释膜层作为研究对象,量化研究了聚乙烯喷涂控释膜层的结构特征参数。利用扫描电镜,观测了在不同放大倍数下,采用喷涂工艺制备的聚乙烯包膜肥料膜层的外表层、横断面和内表层特征;以压汞仪测定了膜上孔隙的大小和分布;采用泡点法研究了大孔隙的最大孔径。【结果】不同放大倍数下的扫描电镜观测结果表明,喷涂法制备的包膜肥料控释膜层外表面整体上光滑、平整、均匀、疏松,但局部存在少量孔隙,孔径主要分布在1000～50 nm的范围内;在放大倍数很高的情况下,整体上膜层无细微孔隙结构。控释膜层厚度约为60～100 μm,断面形貌疏松无孔。膜层内表面粗糙,高低起伏不平、犬牙交错。膜壳材料堆密度为0.4～0.8 g/mL,低于聚乙烯密度,属于疏松结构。孔隙结构分析结果表明,聚乙烯控释膜层的中值孔径为4.5～5.3 nm,与对比的聚乙烯薄膜基本一致,说明两种膜分子链间的细微结构没有差异;但是聚乙烯控释膜层中存在占比18%的直径约为1000～50 nm的较大孔,孔径小于10 nm的间隙占82%,进一步说明占比少的大孔影响控释膜层释放性能。喷涂控释膜层总孔体积在0.4686～1.2260 mL/g,平均孔径在25.1～86.8 nm范围内,孔隙率为33.0%～50.6%,显著高于拉伸工艺制备的聚乙烯薄膜。释放期在1～6个月的包膜控释肥料,最大孔径在990～480 nm的范围,随包膜肥料释放期的增加,膜孔直径逐步减小,说明包膜控释肥料养分释放速率与其最大孔径存在内在联系。【结论】综合3种方法的测定结果,聚乙烯控释膜层可以看作是膜层均匀致密且局部有孔隙,膜壳直径3 mm,膜层厚度约为50 μm,最大孔径为1 μm,平均孔径为50 nm的密闭球形壳体。最大孔是水分和养分进出膜层的主要通道,决定了包膜肥料养分释放速率的快慢。     

土壤薄片中石英颗粒分布的分形特征

土壤中石英颗粒的粒度分布对揭示母质来源和模拟土壤结构等具有重要意义。本文根据石英的光学性质,利用数字图像处理技术提取土壤薄片中的石英颗粒信息,并应用分形维数来表征土壤薄片中石英颗粒的分布特征。采集免耕和翻耕处理下土壤样品并制作成土壤薄片,利用偏光显微镜和数字图像处理技术提取土壤薄片中石英颗粒,应用Sigma ScanPro5软件统计了石英颗粒的数量、大小和形状等信息,研究土壤薄片中石英颗粒的数量分形特征;并分析了其同石英颗粒数量、面积和平均半径等的关系。结果表明石英颗粒的数量分布具有明显的分形特征,分形维数在1.60～2.18之间,分形维数同薄片中石英颗粒的总面积和平均半径呈负相关。免耕处理下表层土壤石英颗粒的数量分形维数高于底层,而翻耕处理下则呈相反的趋势。免耕和翻耕措施下土壤薄片中石英颗粒的数量分形维数在0～5和10～15cm层次之间没有显著差异,但是在20～25cm层次,翻耕处理分形维数高于免耕处理,说明耕作措施会加速土壤矿物质的风化和破碎并改变石英颗粒在土壤剖面中的分布。     

Isotopologue fractionation during microbial reduction of N2O within soil mesocosms as a function of water-filled pore space

Isotopologue analyses of N₂O within soil mesocosm experiments were used to evaluate the influence of N₂O reduction on isotope fractionation. We investigated fractionation during N₂O reduction at 60%, 80% and 100% water-filled pore space (WFPS) and found net isotope effects (NIE) for δ¹⁵N of 4.2–7.8‰, δ¹⁸O of 12.5–19.1‰, δ¹⁵N^α of 6.4–9.7‰ and δ¹⁵N^β of 2.0–5.9‰. Consequently, N₂O reduction has a marked affect on isotopologue values and the importance of this process in flux chamber studies should not be ignored. With the exception of SP (the difference between the δ¹⁵N of the central, α, and terminal, β, atoms) inverse relationships between the NIE, reaction rate and reaction rate constant and WFPS were observed. Isotopic discrimination in SP during N₂O reduction was small and the average NIE for the treatments varied between 2.9‰ and 4.5‰. A strong correlation was evident between δ¹⁸O vs. δ¹⁵N and δ¹⁸O vs. δ¹⁵N^α during reduction with slopes of 2.6 and 1.9, respectively, which contrasts from a slope of <1 commonly observed for mixing between soil-derived and atmospheric N₂O in flux chambers.     

Soil pore space arrangement as a geometric indicator of soil structure

Modern concepts of the morphology and geometry of soil structure are discussed. It is shown that the geometry of soil pores can serve as an indispensable indicator of the structural state of soils. The structural-functional significance of the shape and orientation of soil pores in addition to the total soil porosity is demonstrated by the example of agrogray and alluvial soils of the forest-steppe zone. Theoretical concepts and factual materials discussed in this paper can be considered the first stage of formalization of existing notions about the geometrical aspects of soil structure in the context of the systems arrangement of soils.     

Effect of soil pore size distribution on plant-available water and least limiting water range as soil physical quality indicators

Soil pore size distribution(SPSD) is one of the most important soil physical properties. This research investigated the relationships of location and shape parameters of the SPSD curves with plant-available water(PAW) and least limiting water range(LLWR) of the light-textured soils at the Torogh Agricultural Research Station in north-eastern Iran. Soil moisture release curve(SMRC), PAW and LLWR in matric heads of 100 and 330 h Pa for the field capacity and location and shape parameters of the SPSD curves of 30 soils with different texture and organic carbon contents were determined, and the variable relationships were statistically analyzed. The results showed that the median equivalent pore diameter(de), mean de, standard deviation(SD*), and skewness of the SPSD curves were significantly correlated with PAW(PAW330) and LLWR(LLWR330) measured in a matric head of 330 h Pa. Decrease in deand increase in the diversity of soil pore size(SD*) increased PAW330 and LLWR330. The SD* values of all the soil samples were lower than the optimal ranges suggested in literature. Neither PAW nor LLWR values were significantly different in the soils with the optimal modal deand those with non-optimal modal de. Optimal values of median and mean equivalent pore diameters and kurtosis of SPSD curves led to a significant improvement of PAW330 and LLWR330 as soil physical quality indicators. It was recommended to revise the optimal ranges for SD* and modal defor future studies.     

使用自由软件和便携式光学显微镜研究土壤孔隙特征

Total porosity (TP), determined by image analysis, pore type and pore size distribution were evaluated on impregnated soil blocks from an undisturbed Brazilian sandy loam soil using a digital portable optical microscope. The free software Image J (version 1.40g) was used for image analysis. Procedures for soil image collection and analysis were presented. The image analysis allowed the evaluation of pore sizes with diameters ranging from 20 to >1 000 μm. The following types of pores were also obtained: rounded, elongated and intermediate. The results allowed the characterization of the soil as moderately porous (TP=21.6%). Rounded, intermediate and elongated pores were responsible for 11.6%, 31.7% and 56.7% of TP. In relation to pore size 51.1% of TP was in the 100-500 μm size class and a third of TP came from the pores larger than 500 μm.     

Three-dimensional analysis of a loamy-clay soil using pore and solid chord distributions

Examples of pore and solid chord distributions obtained for ideal porous media are presented, and the distributions of the porous and solid phases of a soil have been studied by pore and solid chord distributions. Serial sections, 100 μm apart, were cut in a soil core, impregnated with resin, and images were obtained of them. The 2D images from 160 sections were used to build a 3D reconstruction of the core. The initial 2D images, the 3D reconstructed medium and 2D computed images from the latter were studied. We found that the solid matrix of the particular soil is homogeneous and isotropic at the scale studied, and it could be characterized with a single 2D image. For pores ranging from 500 μm to 2 mm we also found similar pore chord distributions for the 2D images in the three orthogonal directions and the 3D medium. A single 2D image can be used to study these pores. For larger pores more than one 2D image is required, and we showed that eight 2D images are sufficient to describe these pores.     

New methods for aerosol size distribution determination with a diffusion battery

The method of precipitation of granules on the walls of narrow flow tubes furnishes data that are dependent on both the grain size and the particle abundance. The objective desired is to determine both of these quantities from the observations. The paper presents an analytic method for doing so. It is tested on a uranine aerosol, and the results are found to compare favorably with electron microscope studies of the same aerosol.     

Gas diffusion in structured materials: the effect of tri-modal pore size distribution

Coefficients of gas diffusion (hydrogen through air) were measured on packings of Portland stone chips over a range of water contents. The chips were obtained by crushing blocks of Portland stone on which similar gas diffusion measurements had been previously made. The packings had a tri-modal pore-size distribution: pores between the stone chips; pores within the chips but between ooliths; pores within the chips and within ooliths. As the water content of the packings was progressively decreased, the diffusion coefficient for the packings increased in three steps corresponding to successive drainage of the three pore modes. The previous results for the blocks were used to give good theoretical prediction of the three steps obtained by measurement. These results support earlier speculation that a similar stepwise increase in diffusion coefficient in soils might have been caused by micro-pedal structure within soil crumbs.     

Multifractal analysis of Hg pore size distributions in soils with contrasting structural stability

Parameters are needed to recognize and monitor changes in pore size distributions (PSD) caused by factors such as differences in soil management systems or by disturbance of the soil structure. The objectives of this work were to evaluate the potential of multifractal parameters obtained from mercury injection porosimetry (MIP) curves to distinguish between two soils with contrasting structure stability indices and between distinct stages of the surface of these soils. Samples were collected from the uppermost surface layer of two agricultural soils, before and after simulated rainfall. The first soil was loamy textured, with 4.61% organic matter content and a mean weight diameter (MWD) of 2.136 mm. The second soil was a silty loam with 2.17% organic matter content and a MWD of 0.262 mm, highly susceptible to crusting. Crusted soil surfaces were produced by cumulative 260 mm and 140 mm simulated rainfall on the loamy and the silty loam soil, respectively. Ten replicated samples from the initial freshly-tilled and the crusted soil surfaces were analyzed. In the diameter range of 100-0.005 μm, the freshly-tilled surface of the loamy soil had a significantly (p < 0.05) higher pore volume than its rain-disturbed counterpart, whereas the respective pore volume of the silty loam soil slightly increased following simulated rain. The scaling properties of PSDs measured by MIP could be fitted reasonably well with multifractal models. Generalized dimension spectrum, D_q, led to a better definition of multifractal scaling than singularity spectrum, f(α). Multifractal parameters such as Hölder exponent of order zero, α₀, aperture of the left part of the singularity spectrum (α₀ − α_q+), entropy dimension, D₁, correlation dimension, D₂, as well as indexes (D₀-D₁) and (D₀-D₂) were significantly different between the structurally stable loamy soil and the silty loam soil prone to crusting and between initial and rain-disturbed surface stages (p < 0.05). Moreover, D₁ and (D₀-D₁) were also significantly affected by the interaction between soil type and surface stage. Parameter α₀ ranked as: loam initial < loam rain-disturbed < silty loam initial < silty loam rain-disturbed, whereas the opposite rank was true for entropy dimension, D₁. Consequently, low structural stability or stability decay due to disaggregation by rainfall lead to clustering of PSDs measured by Hg intrusion porosimetry. These results show that multifractal analysis of PSDs may be an appropriate tool for characterizing soil structure stability and also a suitable indicator for assessing soil surface evolution stages.     

聚烯烃包膜控释肥膜层孔径测定方法研究

【目的】物理包覆法制备的聚合物控释膜层结构直接决定了其养分的释放,控释膜层存在的微孔和裂缝是肥芯养分进出的最主要通道。因此,控释膜层结构特征是决定包膜肥料释放性能的关键因素。泡点法能够准确测定膜的有效孔径及其分布,是一种重要的膜层孔径测试方法。本研究根据包膜肥控释膜层的特点,研究适用于测定聚烯烃包膜控释肥膜层最大孔径的泡点法,并建立测定包膜肥料最大孔径的标准方法。【方法】以泡点法为基础,建立测定膜层最大孔径的装置,确定膜层最大孔径的位置,并利用扫描电镜对膜层的孔隙结构进行观察,确定其形貌结构特征;通过对浸润剂种类、 浸润时间、 浸润温度等测定因素的比较分析,确定适合测定膜层最大孔径的最佳条件;并以释放期分别为1、 3、 5、 6月的聚烯烃包膜肥料为研究对象,研究释放期与最大孔径之间的相关关系。【结果】 1)将4种肥料放入水中浸泡,随浸泡时间的增长,膜层表面有尿素结晶的白色点位的颗粒逐渐增多,浸泡10天,80%以上颗粒均能检测到泡点,其白色点位可被认为是肥芯养分的溶出通道,以颗粒的白色点位作为膜层最大孔径的测定位置;这与扫描电镜观察到的孔隙或孔洞的特征相吻合 ;2)通过对浸润条件研究,认为在25℃,以Q-16为浸润剂,浸润5 min能够使用自制的压泡法装置直接测定控释膜层最大孔径; 3)释放期为46、 105、 160、 198天的包膜肥料的膜层平均孔径分别为1.93、 0.58、 0.45和0.41 m,最大孔径随着释放期的缩短而增大,随着微分溶出率的增加而增大,最大孔径与释放性能存在密切联系。【结论】综上所述,采用塑料管端封装浸泡10天的膜层,以Q-16作为浸润剂,在室温下浸润5 min的条件下可以测定最大孔隙结构,泡点法可作为一种标准方法用于控释膜层最大孔径的测定,其测定的最大孔径与释放期存在相关关系,对包膜控释肥控释性能和养分释放机理的深入认识有重要作用。     

Long-wavelength fluorimetric determination of food antioxidant capacity using Nile blue as reagent

A method for the determination of the antioxidant capacity using long-wavelength fluorescence measurements is described for the first time. This method is a modification of the conventional oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) method that uses fluorescein or phycoerythrin and the generator of peroxyl radicals, 2,2'-azo-bis-(2-methylpropionamidine) dihydrochloride (AAPH). The long-wavelength fluorophor nile blue is proposed as an analytical reagent alternative to these conventional fluorophores. Kinetic curves have been obtained by monitoring the fluorescence variation (λex, 620; λem, 680 nm) with time, using the 96-well microplate format. The vitamin E analogue 6-hydroxy-2,5,7,8-tetramethylchroman-2-carboxylic acid (Trolox) has been chosen as the model analyte, and the normalized area under the decay curve has been used as the analytical parameter. The dynamic range of the calibration curve is 0.8-8.0 μM, and the detection limit is 0.45 μM. The precision of the method, expressed as relative standard deviation and assayed using 1 and 5 μM Trolox concentrations, was 5.6 and 2.9%, respectively. The method has been applied to the analysis of fruit juices and wines, obtaining results that did not differ significantly from those provided using the ORAC method with fluorescein as reagent.