COMPARING PARTICLE SIZE DISTRIBUTION ANALYSIS BY SEDIMENTATION AND LASER DIFFRACTION METHOD

Abstract

In this paper a brief review of the laser diffraction method is firstly carried out. Then, for 30 soil samples having a different texture classification sampled in Sicilian basin, a comparison between the two techniques is developed. The analysis demonstrated that the sand content measured by Sieve-Hydrometer method can be assumed equal to the one determinated by laser diffraction technique while an overestimation of the clay fraction measured by Sieve-Hydrometer method respect to laser diffraction technique was obtained. Finally a set of equations useful to refer LD measurements to SH method was proposed.

Keywords

• Particle-size distribution, Sieve-Hydrometer method, Laser Diffraction method