Multi-scale calibration of a line-style sand pluviator

Abstract

A newly developed line-style sand pluviator has been calibrated to prepare repeatable sand specimens of specific statuses of compactness and homogeneity for laboratory tests. Sand is falling via a bottom slot of a fixed hopper, and by moving the sample container under the slot, the container is evenly filled with sand. The pluviator is designed with high flexibility: The falling height of sand, the hopper’s opening width and the relative moving speed between the hopper and the sample box can be easily adjusted. By changing these control factors, sand specimens of a wide range of densities can be prepared. A series of specimen preparation was performed using the coarse Merwede River sand. Performance of the pluviator was systematically evaluated by exploring the alteration of achievable density, as well as checking the homogeneity and fabric of the prepared samples by CT scanning. It was found that the density of prepared coarse sand samples has monotonic correlations with none of the three control factors. Furthermore, CT scanning results suggested that the prepared samples exhibited excellent homogeneity in the horizontal direction but periodical alteration of density in the vertical direction. Based on these calibration test results, a preliminary hypothesis is proposed to describe the general working principles of this type of pluviators a priori, illustrating the mechanisms dominating the non-monotonic correlations between control factors and the relative density as well as the vertically prevalent heterogeneity of specimens. Accordingly, practical recommendations are made in a unified framework in order to lessen the load of similar calibration work.