I-Corps: Instant Sediment Grain Size Measurements

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of technology to determine grain size quickly allowing for designing, performing, and assessing engineering works, for example climate adaptations (i.e., beach nourishment), sand and gravel mining, coastal and river engineering, and river restoration. Four commercial applications will be explored. First, coastal engineering firms are required to match local grain size during beach restorations, necessitating grain size analysis at the site and all nearby sand resources (onshore and offshore). Engineering works of this nature are expected to increase in frequency and magnitude as climate changes. Second, recent work suggests that carbon dioxide drawdown can occur during beach nourishment if crushed olivine (a naturally occurring mineral) is used instead of beach sand. The measurement and verification of carbon dioxide removal requires monitoring the time evolution of olivine grain size. This can be done quickly using this technology. Third, preliminary work has focused on coastal applications, but river restorations also must match a target grain size to make sure that the sediment does not immediately wash away in flood conditions, and that new sediment is suitable for habitat for flora and fauna. Fourth, this device is potentially useful for classifying sand and gravel for mining aggregates.This I-Corps project is based on the development of a handheld camera-based measurement system that uses on-device machine learning, does not require calibration, and provides accurate in-the-field measurements within 1 second. Much of the earth is covered with a veneer of mobile sediment. The size of this sediment determines under what conditions it will move; larger sediment requires larger forces to move. Grain size is a first order measurement for geologic, engineering, and other earthmoving activities. The standard techniques for measuring sediment grain size are time consuming and performed exclusively in laboratory settings, not in the field. Bringing samples back to the lab to be analyzed can take up to 6 months, even as surface grain size can change on the timescale of seconds to minutes. This innovation is focused on the continued development of an existing device that can analyze grain size instantaneously.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.