Temperature Based Water Content Measurement in Mud (Soil) With Fiber Optics

Master thesis (2020)

Authors

F. Van Ballaer Civil Engineering & Geosciences

Contributors

Ebi Meshkati Deltares (mentor)
P.J. Vardon (graduation committee member)
Pieter Doornenbal Deltares (graduation committee member)
D.S. Draganov Applied Geophysics and Petrophysics - CEG (graduation committee member)
Norbert Klitsch Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule (graduation committee member)
Faculty
Civil Engineering & Geosciences, Civil Engineering & Geosciences
Copyright: © 2020 Frederik Van Ballaer
More Info
expand_more

Published Date

28-08-2020

Language

English

Reuse Rights

Other than for strictly personal use, it is not permitted to download, forward or distribute the text or part of it, without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), unless the work is under an open content license such as Creative Commons.

Faculty

Civil Engineering & Geosciences

Abstract

This research has demonstrated the applicability of a DTS system to estimate the volumetric water content in saturated mud material. 2 samples of synthetically generated mud and 1 sample of natural mud from the port of Rotterdam were investigated, first by conventional methods and subsequently also with DTS. The system set-up and heating strategy were optimized by testing with different media (air, water) and with different FO coil diameters. A step-by-step approach was then designed to translate the thermal response recorded in the muds into volumetric water contents. Early- and late- time cutoffs were applied to the slope selection procedure (∆T vs ln(t)), and a mud dependent correction factor was applied to obtain the effective heat flux. The average VWC’s (ϴ) subsequently derived from the DTS data were in good agreement with those obtained by conventional methods (core sampling); the standard deviation in the VWC’s (ϴ) of all three tested muds was between 0.030 and 0.040 m3/m3. For saturated conditions, Sayde et al. (2010) and Striegl and Loheide (2012) published larger standard deviations of 0.046 m3/m3 and >0.050 m3/m3 respectively. The approach detailed in this investigation has enabled DTS to perform as a guideline on the continuous volumetric water content profile in saturated muds.