Abstract
Purpose
The laser diffraction method has become increasingly popular during the last decades to measure the grain size distribution of various environmental particles originating from sediments, soils or river suspended sediments. However, the measurement of multimodal samples containing sands is still an issue. The aim of this study is to discuss the limits of the laser diffraction method in measuring the sand fraction of bimodal samples.
Materials and methods
A systematic comparison of four commercially available laser diffraction instruments (Cilas 1190L, Fritsch Analysette 22 Nanotec, Malvern Mastersizer 3000, and Sequoia Lisst 200X) is performed on 12 unimodal and bimodal samples of glass beads and silica-rich natural sands.
Results
Measured grain size distributions differ between the four instruments. Most important differences occur in bimodal samples containing a sand fraction, where some instruments have major difficulties to estimate the proportion of the fine towards coarse mode correctly, with errors up to 100%.
Conclusion
In accordance with the observation of coarse particles accumulating in low-velocity areas within the sampling tank, the creation of an imperfect suspension within the sampling tank is considered as a main reason for the differences. The choice of the most suitable measurement parameters is crucial to obtain accurate and precise measurements. However, these parameters cannot be compared between the instruments, nor exist precise user guidelines. Therefore, testing several measurement parameters before analyzing novel sample compositions using laser diffraction is recommended.
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Data availability
Data are available on: https://doi.org/10.57745/EKCG4J.
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Acknowledgements
The authors thank Matthieu Masson and Loïc Richard (INRAE) for their help in the sample analysis and result discussion, Thierry Fretaud (CNR), Janna Stepanian (INRAE) and Asposan Ltd. for their help in the sample analysis.
Funding
Funding for the work was provided by the Compagnie Nationale du Rhône (CNR), Electricité de France (EDF), European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), Agence de l’eau RMC, and three regional councils (Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, PACA and Occitanie) in the context of the Rhône Sediment Observatory (OSR, http://www.graie.org/osr).
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Laible, J., Camenen, B., Le Coz, J. et al. Comparison of grain size distribution measurements of sand-silt mixtures using laser diffraction systems. J Soils Sediments 23, 2310–2325 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-023-03470-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-023-03470-6