MORPHOLOGY OF SOIL GRAINS:

IMPORTANCE AND QUANTIFICATION

DUNE DU PILAT
angle of repose  '

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 Leighton Buzzard Sand
(Fatin Altuhafi)

Inter-particle shearing
(Ignazio Cavarretta)

Leighton Buzzard Sand

The mechanical behavior of sand and other granular materials depends on the characteristics of its particles, including shape,
surface texture, and grading.

𝑟𝑖 𝑁 𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑥−𝑖𝑛 𝑟+𝑠
𝑟= 𝑠= 𝜌=
𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑥−𝑖𝑛 𝑟𝑚𝑖𝑛−𝑐𝑖𝑟 2
Effect of particle shape on extreme void ratio, natural sand with Cu ≤ 2.5 (Cho et.al. 2006)
 SIZE

dv dp dst

Volume dV Projected area dp Stokes diameter dSt

Feret dF Martin dM

Illustration of different diameters

Size gives us one type of information, but we could have different shapes of the same size. Example: shapes
of the same area (4 units sq.)

We need to describe shape at different scales:

• form
• roundness
 SHAPE

Roughness

Roundness : reflects the shape

at the scale of its asperities.

Form

A simplified representation of form, roundness, and surface texture

by three linear dimension to illustrate their independence (Barret, 1980)
 FORM

Name Formula Author

𝐿+𝐼 Wentworth,1922
Flatness index
2𝑆 Cailleux, 1945

Ordinate and abscissa for

𝐼 𝑆 Zingg,1935
a plot to characterize ,
shape 𝐿 𝐼 Blot & Pye, 2008

𝑆
Shape factor Corey (1949)
𝐼𝐿
𝑆
Flatness Sneed & Folk (1958)
𝐿
𝐿. 𝑆 Aschenbrenner
Shape factor
𝐼2 (1956)
Author Definition Formula

The ratio of the surface area of a

degree of true sphericity
Wadell sphere of the same volume as the 𝑠𝑒𝑠
(1932) particle (ses), to the actual Ψ = 𝑆𝑊3𝐷 =
𝑎𝑠𝑝
surface area of the particle (asp).

The ratio of the diameter of the 1

Krumbein sphere has the same volume of 𝑉𝑃 3 𝑑𝑉
(1941) the particle to the diameter of the Ψ ≃ 𝑆𝐾3𝐷 = =
𝑉𝐶 𝑑𝑐𝑚𝑖𝑛
minimum circumscribed sphere.

Sneed & Folk 3 𝑆2

(1958)
Maximum projection sphericity Ψp= 𝐿.𝐼

The ratio of the diameter of the

maximum inscribed sphere to the 𝑑𝑖𝑚𝑎𝑥
Cho et.al
the diameter of the minimum 𝑆𝐾𝑆 =
(2006) 𝑑𝑐𝑚𝑖𝑛
circumscribed sphere.
 ROUNDNESS

Wadell’s (1932) roundness is the most widely used one, but is scale dependent.

𝑁 𝑟𝑖
𝑖=1 𝑅
0
degree of roundness =
𝑁

Illustration of Wadell’s roundness

Visual estimation of roundness and sphericity of sand grains, after Krumbein & Sloss (1963)
 MORPHOLOGI SOFTWARE

major axis: for minimal

rotational energy

length minor axis: orthogonal to

major axis

width

A
A CE diameter

(same area A)
 MORPHOLOGI SOFTWARE

Form aspect ratio: width/length

circularity: [2 x √(p x area)]/perimeter

B
Roundness solidity: area (B)/area (A+B)
A

convexity: perimeter (A+B)/perimeter (A)