The testing equipment below is used to perform a triaxial compression test.  It basically smashes the sample and records how much stress it is taking, how the volume of the specimen is changing, etc. at different stages of smashing.  After I smash it, I have the machinery rigged up so I can fill the sample with an epoxy for analysis after removal from the machine.
Text Box: The testing equipment below is used to perform a triaxial compression test. It basically smashes the sample and records how much stress it is taking, how the volume of the specimen is changing, etc. at different stages of smashing. After I smash it, I have the machinery rigged up so I can fill the sample with an epoxy for analysis after removal from the machine.
Here is the ct scanning apparatus.  On the left is the x-ray tub that emits the x-rays.  The rays then pass through the sample and interact with the screen on the right to give output to a camera which records the data.  The sample then rotates and repeats the process.  With a little time and a lot of software you achieve an interactive 3-d image of the specimen.
Text Box: Here is the ct scanning apparatus. On the left is the x-ray tub that emits the x-rays. The rays then pass through the sample and interact with the screen on the right to give output to a camera which records the data. The sample then rotates and repeats the process. With a little time and a lot of software you achieve an interactive 3-d image of the specimen.
Well that is my research in a nut shell.  I'll leave you with a picture of my geotechnical peers.  This picture was taken at a construction site in Kansas City.  The columns of rock you see behind us were removed from the bedrock using a drill attached to a crane which cut around them and lifted them out.  Reinforced concrete piles were then installed into the holes to support the hospital being constructed.
Text Box: Well that is my research in a nut shell. I'll leave you with a picture of my geotechnical peers. This picture was taken at a construction site in Kansas City. The columns of rock you see behind us were removed from the bedrock using a drill attached to a crane which cut around them and lifted them out. Reinforced concrete piles were then installed into the holes to support the hospital being constructed.
This is what I get as a result of my scan.  It is then up to me to manipulate the image so it is useful and quantitative.  The data it takes to produce one of these files takes can take up four gigs of disk space.
Text Box: This is what I get as a result of my scan. It is then up to me to manipulate the image so it is useful and quantitative. The data it takes to produce one of these files takes can take up four gigs of disk space.
Now the sample looks like the one on the left in the below picture.  It is composed of sand epoxied together.  The sample to the right was created from loess, a fine wind deposited soil.  It was made by Ha Pham, one of my fellow grad students but it was turned over to me to examine the cracks in it.
Text Box: Now the sample looks like the one on the left in the below picture. It is composed of sand epoxied together. The sample to the right was created from loess, a fine wind deposited soil. It was made by Ha Pham, one of my fellow grad students but it was turned over to me to examine the cracks in it. Hello.  This is my research that I am doing at Iowa State University.  I am currently working on my masters degree in geotechnical engineering and my research deals with finding uses of ct scan technologies towards the fields of soil mechanics and subgrade reinforcement by quantifying finite soil structure during and after failing stress.  I am specifically analyzing porosity variations in sand during expansion as soil particles interact with one another on a failure plane.   In other words I crush sand and oogle it with computers.  Here is the methodology:

Sample
Text Box: Sample