【研究背景】
土壤结构对于环境和生态系统的健康至关重要。然而，微生物诱导碳酸盐沉淀（MICP）对土壤结构的影响尚未被完全理解。MICP是一种通过微生物作用来固化土体的方法，但是如何量化土体结构的变化仍然是一个难题。
【研究内容】
南京大学的科研人员近期在国际期刊《Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering》上发表了一篇题为“Quantitatively characterizing sandy soil structure altered by MICP using multi-level thresholding segmentation algorithm”的论文。该文使用一种名为GAE-KE的多级阈值分割算法，对使用MICP方法固化的砂土结构进行了定量表征。结合同步辐射（SR）微CT扫描技术，研究人员成功地将砂土试样中的沉淀碳酸钙晶体与砂粒和孔隙分离开来。他们计算了孔隙度、孔隙结构参数和流动特性的空间分布，从而量化了MICP固化效果的孔隙尺度洞察，并证实了GAE-KE多级阈值分割算法的可行性。
【研究意义】
这项研究为我们提供了一种量化土体结构变化的新方法，同时也为MICP研究提供了新的思路。通过对土体结构的定量表征，我们可以更好地了解MICP方法对土体结构的固化效应，为土体保护和治理提供更科学的依据。此外，GAE-KE多级阈值分割算法的应用也为其他领域的图像分割问题提供了新的解决思路。
Quantitatively characterizing sandy soil structure altered by MICP using multi-level thresholding segmentation algorithm
作者: Jianjun, Zi, Tao, Liu, Wei, Zhang, Pan, Xiaohua, Hu, Ji, Zhu, Honghu
机构: 南京大学
DOI：10.1016/j.jrmge.2023.11.025
【Abstract】The influences of biological, chemical, and flow processes on soil structure through microbial-induced carbonate precipitation (MICP) are not yet fully understood. In this study, we use a multi-level thresholding segmentation algorithm, genetic algorithm (GA) enhanced Kapur entropy (KE) (GAE-KE), to accomplish quantitative characterization of sandy soil structure altered by MICP cementation. A sandy soil sample was treated using MICP method and scanned by the synchrotron radiation (SR) micro-CT with a resolution of 6.5 μm. After validation, tri-level thresholding segmentation using GAE-KE successfully separated the precipitated calcium carbonate crystals from sand particles and pores. The spatial distributions of porosity, pore structure parameters, and flow characteristics were calculated for quantitative characterization. The results offer pore-scale insights into the MICP treatment effect, and the quantitative understanding confirms the feasibility of the GAE-KE multi-level thresholding segmentation algorithm.
【Keywords】Soil structure; Micro-CT; Multi-level thresholding; MICP; Genetic algorithm (GA)
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