Particle characterization of polydisperse quartz filtration sand

• 16 polydisperse fractions of quartz filtration sand were characterized.
• Volume diameter, projected diameter, 2D shape factor and sphericity were determined.
• The correlations between the diameters and the shape factors were proposed.
• Sphericity and 2D shape factor decrease with increase in particle sieve diameter.

In this paper, different methods for particle characterization were applied to 16 polydisperse fractions of quartz filtration sand obtained by sieving, with sieve diameters in the interval dm = 0.359 to 2.415. For each fraction, volume diameter was measured and projected diameter and 2D shape factor were obtained using the scanned image of the projection of a large number of particles. The correlations between the volume diameter, projected diameter and 2D shape factor with sieve diameter were proposed. All of the correlations show linear dependence between the variables.The sphericity was determined for the fractions from packed-bed pressure drop measurements; from terminal velocity measurements using different correlations for the calculation of CD, direct correlations for Ut and from direct empirical correlations. The sphericities obtained using different methods and correlations gave very different results. Both the sphericity and the 2D shape factor were shown to decrease with increase in particle sieve diameter.

Figure optionsDownload as PowerPoint slide