Use of radiography images and gray level co-occurrence matrix to investigate gravitational granular flow

Abstract

The paper presents analysis of granular gravitational flow based on radiography images processing. The investigations were conducted for silo model geometry with concentric/eccentric discharging modes. The continuous X-ray radiography scans of granular material distribution, acquired during flow, were obtained by means of an especially designed model silo with rectangular bin and different settings of hopper angles. Image processing involved texture analysis methods, the Gray-Level Co-Occurrence Matrix (GLCM). The texture analysis of radiography images provides information about changes of granular porosity in different silo zones during silo discharging process. This technique allows to divide the silo space into a number homogenous regions with similar porosity level. The proposed methodology was applied to analyse the flow in silo model with various hopper angles.