The influence of grain size on the performance of conductivity concentration meters

The use of conductivity as a means to determine the volume fraction of solids in a suspension of poorly conductive solids in water combines the benefits of high sampling rates and ease of use at the cost of a high sensitivity to salinity and fluid temperature. In this paper we investigate a custom built CCM, to which a third parameter was found to be of much influence: the grain size of the suspended phase. This paper describes a calibration experiment with which the influence of grain size on the CCM output has been investigated. The data give rise to an alternative calibration curve which is different from the regular effective media theories.