Lectures > Lecture 6

Lecture 6 by Adrian Sheppard, Dept. Materials Physics, RSPhys, the Australian National University, Australia.

Title: Estimating quantitative properties from 3D images:  porosity, connectivity and transport properties.

3D imaging is particularly useful because it provides us with a geometrically accurate, 3D map of structure, from which we can make quantitative estimates of many of our sample's macroscopic properties.  These estimates are often critical for delivering value: they can be used in further quantitative analysis and support decision-making.   Computing material properties from 3D images has another advantage:  it can help us understand why our sample behaves the way it does - to make links between microstructure and properties.

This talk will focus on macroscale measures that are important in the geosciences including porosity, conductivity and permeability, and on some measures for characterising  micro-scale structure and connectivity.   Some of these properties can be directly extracted  from an image while others require computationally-intensive simulation.  We will outline the methods used to estimate properties and present some of the  software tools that are available for performing these calculations.

In all cases the accuracy of the property estimates will depend strongly on the quality and resolution of the imaging.  We will discuss how to estimate accuracy and minimise uncertainty in property measurements.

Biography: Adrian Sheppard is professor and X-ray Imaging group leader in the Department of Materials Physics in the Research School of Physics at ANU.  He completed his PhD in Physics at the Australian National University (ANU) in 1996 has held research positions at the Université Libre de Bruxelles, the University of New South Wales and the Australian National University. His research interests include tomographic and computational imaging, parallel algorithms for image processing, understanding complex morphology, and fluid flow through porous media in biology, geology and materials science.