Micro X-ray CT at spring-8 for granular mechanics

This paper deals with the microscopic visualization technique of sand specimen using a micro x-ray CT at SPring-8. SPring-8 is the world's largest third-generation synchrotron radiation facility and it has laboratories, BL47XU and BL20B2, at which a high-resolution x-ray CT system is available. A series of experiments performed in 2003 and 2004 are overviewed to demonstrate the performance of the system. Then the paper focuses on a newly-developed image technique to identify each grain in the specimen. The obtained grain information is further processed to some micromechanical properties such as grain size distribution and contact point statistics.