Application of single-board computers in experimental research on unsaturated soils

Publikationstyp
Conference Paper
Date Issued
2020-10-16
Sprache
English
Author(s)
Milatz, Marius  orcid-logo
Herausgeber*innen
Cardoso, Rafaela  
Jommi, Cristina  
Romero, Enrique  
Institut
Geotechnik und Baubetrieb B-5  
TORE-DOI
10.15480/882.3198
TORE-URI
http://hdl.handle.net/11420/8257
First published in
E3S Web of Conferences  
Number in series
195
Volume
195
Article Number
02022
Citation
E3S Web of Conferences (195): 02022 (2020-10-16)
Contribution to Conference
4th European Conference on Unsaturated Soils, (E-UNSAT 2020)  
Publisher DOI
10.1051/e3sconf/202019502022
Scopus ID
2-s2.0-85097179308
Publisher
EDP Sciences
In this contribution, the application of single-board computers for the investigation of the hydro-mechanical behaviour of unsaturated granular soils is presented. Single-board computers, such as the Raspberry Pi or Arduino, have recently experienced a hype of applications in school and university teaching, in the maker scene, amongst hobbyists, but also in research. In combination with easy to learn and open programming languages, such as Python, individual experimental set-ups for research in unsaturated soil mechanics, using actuators and sensors can be easily developed with the help of different programmable hardware, such as stepper motors, analog-to-digital converters and other controller boards. For the experimental application in imaging of unsaturated granular soils by computed tomography (CT), we present a miniaturized uniaxial compression device for the measurement of unsaturated shear strength and capillary cohesion in CT-experiments. The device has already been applied for CT-imaging of the development of water distribution and capillary bridges in between different shear steps. Furthermore, a new fully programmable hydraulic experimental set-up for the automated investigation of transient hydraulic paths of the water retention curve of granular media is presented. Both devices have been developed in the framework of the Raspberry Pi single-board computer and Python programming language with simple and relatively inexpensive hardware components. In addition to the technical development of the testing devices, experimental results of the hydro-mechanical behaviour of unsaturated sand and glass beads, derived from uniaxial compression tests and water retention tests, will be presented.
DDC Class
550: Geowissenschaften
Funding(s)
Graduiertenkolleg 2462: Prozesse in natürlichen und technischen Partikel-Fluid-Systemen (PintPFS)  
More Funding Information
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)
Publication version
publishedVersion
Lizenz
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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