Powder Technology 376 (2020) 477–485

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Powder Technology

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/powtec

Transparent characterization of spatial-temporal evolution of gangue

solid wastes' void structures during compression based on CT scanning
Junmeng Li a,b,c, Yanli Huang a,b,⁎, Huadong Gao a,b, Shenyang Ouyang a,b, Yachao Guo a,b
a
State Key Laboratory of Coal Resources and Safe Mining, School of Mines, China University of Mining & Technology, Xuzhou 221116, China
b
Key Laboratory of Deep Coal Resource Mining of Ministry of Education, China University of Mining & Technology, Xuzhou, 221116, China
c
State Key Laboratory for Geomechanics and Deep Underground Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology, China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: In the solid backfill mining, gangue solid wastes (GSW) are used as the main filling materials. The void ratio
Received 5 June 2020 and void structure of GSW filling materials under the loaded compression in the goaf are the key factors that
Received in revised form 9 August 2020 affect the heavy metal ion migration with the mine water. In this paper, the transparency of the internal
Accepted 12 August 2020
structure of GSW filling materials was realized by CT scanning experiment and 3D reconstruction technol-
Available online 17 August 2020
ogy, and then the spatial-temporal evolution characteristics of void ratio and void structure of GSW filling
Keywords:
materials were studied under the loaded compression. The results show that: (a) With the progress of load-
CT scanning ing process, the connectivity between adjacent voids is getting worse, and closed voids are gradually
Gangue solid waste formed; (b) The void's equivalent diameter is mainly concentrated in the range of 15 mm - 25 mm;
The loaded compression (c) The change in the overall void ratio of GSW is mainly caused by the change of large voids, and the change
Void structure of small voids has slight contribution to the change of the overall void ratio. However, the sharp increase in
Spatial-temporal evolution characteristics the number of small voids can reflect the poor connectivity and permeability between the voids. This re-
Transparency search is of great significance to further understand the migration mechanism of heavy metal ions in the
filled goaf, and protect the groundwater environment.
© 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
High-intensity mining of underground coal resources has led to a
series of ecological environmental problems (as shown in Fig. 1),
such as the discharge of gangue solid waste (GSW), surface collapse,
soil erosion, vegetation damage. In particular, the large amount of
GSW on the ground not only occupies the massive land, pollutes
the atmospheric environment and soil environment, but also has
major hidden disasters of spontaneous combustion, explosion, land-
slide. Posing serious threat to the production safety and ecological
environment in the mining area, GSW has become one of the major
pollution sources [1–5]. Through the backfilling of solid waste
(such as gangue) into the goaf, solid backfill mining can effectively
control the integrity and stability of overburden structure, minimize
the damage of coal mining to the underground aquifer and surface
subsidence, and the discharge of GSW to the mining environment.
With the full consideration of the economic and environmental ben-
efits of coal mining, solid backfill mining has become an effective
technical way to realize green mining in mines [6–13].
⁎ Corresponding author at: State Key Laboratory of Coal Resources and Safe Mining,
School of Mines, China University of Mining & Technology, Xuzhou 221116, China.
E-mail address: huangyanli6567@163.com (Y. Huang).
During the solid backfill mining, heavy metals contained in GSW will
be released from the gangue after water dissolution and there is a cer-
tain potential pollution to the groundwater environment [14–17]. The
permeability of GSW filling materials under the condition of loaded
compression is an important factor affecting the migration of heavy
metal ions with the mine water, and the void ratio and void structure
are the key factors affecting the permeability [18–22].
At present, relevant reports of GSW mainly focus on its physical
and chemical properties [23–25], basic mechanical properties
[16,26–29], permeability properties [30–33], compaction properties
[34–40]. However, there are few studies on the internal microscopic
void structure, and the visual research on spatial-temporal evolution
characteristics of its micro void structure under the loaded compres-
sion is rare. In view of this, CT scanning experiment of broken rock
and the 3D reconstruction technology of digital model were used,
and spatial-temporal evolution characteristics of the void structure
of GSW filling materials in the process of loaded compression were
investigated in this paper. This research contributes to the further
understanding of the pore structure characteristics of GSW filling
materials under the loaded compression. Besides, this research
clearly illustrates the migration mechanism of heavy metal ions in
the backfilled goaf, and has a guiding significance to the environ-
mental protection of groundwater.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.powtec.2020.08.035
0032-5910/© 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
478 J. Li et al. / Powder Technology 376 (2020) 477–485

Fig. 1. A series of eco-environmental problems caused by high-intensity mining of

underground coal resources. Fig. 3. Jaw crusher

2. Experiment design

2.1. Experimental schemes

In this paper, the self-developed CT scanning compactor (Fig. 2(a)),

was used in combination with MTS press (Fig. 2(a)) and CT machine
(Fig. 2(b)). The CT scanning tests were carried out on the internal struc-
ture of GSW filling materials under different compression conditions
(0 MPa, 2 MPa, 5 MPa, 8 MPa, 10 MPa). Five groups of experiments
were totally included in CT scanning tests. Fig. 4. GSW samples with different particle sizes.

2.2. Experimental materials
In this experiment, excavation gangues of sandstone nature were
used as GSW. Before the experiment, gangue samples were crushed to
below 50 mm by jaw crusher (Fig. 3), and screened by 10 mm,
15 mm, 20 mm and 25 mm square hole stone sieves step by step.
Then three groups of broken samples with particle sizes of 10–15 mm,
15–20 mm and 20–25 mm were prepared (Fig. 4). Subsequently,
three groups were uniformly mixed at the mass ratio of 1:1:1, and
then uniformly graded samples were obtained.
2.3. Research processes
The whole research process mainly included sample loading, loading
experiment, CT scanning experiment, CT slice processing, 3D
reconstruction of digital model, extraction of void space marker model
and analysis of void structure. The overall research process is shown
in Fig. 5.
(1) Sample loading: the prepared uniformly graded GSW were
loaded to CT scanning compactor, and the loading size was con-
trolled as Φ200 mm × H200 mm.
(2) Loading experiment and CT scanning experiment: before load-
ing, CT scanning on the GSW sample was firstly conducted in
the initial state; the sample was put into MTS press and loaded
to 2 MPa, and then the sample was put into CT machine for scan-
ning after pressure holding; loaded to 5 MPa, and put it into CT
machine for scanning after pressure holding. This process was re-
peated until all experimental schemes were completed. In the
whole test process, the same GSW sample was used.

Fig. 2. CT scanning experiments of GSW filling materials.

 J. Li et al. / Powder Technology 376 (2020) 477–485
Fig. 5. Research flow of void structure of GSW backfilling materials.
Fig. 6. Effect comparison before and after CT slice treatment of GSW samples. (a) Original
CT slice (b) After the binarization and noise reduction.
(3) CT slice processing, 3D reconstruction of digital model, extraction
of void space marker model and analysis of void structure: a series
of image processing, such as binarization and noise reduction,
were carried out on the CT scan slice of the GSW; and then the
digital 3D structure model and void space marker model of GSW
filling materials under different loaded compression conditions
were obtained through 3D reconstruction technology. Finally,
based on the void space marker model, the spatial-temporal evo-
lution characteristics of void ratio and void structure in the loaded
compression process of GSW filling materials were analyzed.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. 3D reconstruction of digital model
In this paper, OTSU algorithm [41] was used to obtain the optimal
threshold value of the CT image of GSW samples, and then the CT
479
image was binarized based on this threshold value, and then 3D median
filtering algorithm was used to reduce the noise of all binary images. The
whole processing operation was completed in MATLAB software, and
the noise reduction function was medfilt3. The effect comparison before
and after CT slice treatment of GSW sample is shown in Fig. 6.
After binarization and noise reduction, the original CT images were
transformed into a series of slices, which can clearly represent the inter-
nal structure of the GSW samples. Based on this series of slices, 3D re-
construction of samples under different compression conditions
(σ1 = 0 MPa, 2 MPa, 5 MPa, 8 MPa, 10 MPa) was carried out with
Avizo 3D analysis software based on the fast watershed algorithm of to-
pology theory. Then a digital 3D structure model was obtained, which
can visually display the internal structure of the GSW. Through the re-
verse operation of the digital 3D structure model of the GSW sample,
the void space marker model was obtained. Each void in the model
was independently distinguished by the rendering of the cyclic color il-
lumination model. The void space marker model of the GSW sample
under different compression was obtained, as shown in Fig. 7 (black is
the matrix, and the other colors are voids). At present, the existing re-
search results on the internal structure of broken rock materials are
mainly based on its 2D CT sections [23–25,42–46], and the results are
highly subjective and have a large error. The results obtained in this
paper are all based on the 3D reconstruction model of gangue solid
waste materials, which has higher accuracy.
As shown in Fig. 7, the voids between GSW samples have the charac-
teristics of geometric diversity and spatial distribution disorder, and
their interconnections form a complex void network structure. In the
initial state, the GSW sample has a large number of voids and their
volum is large, the adjacent voids have strong connectivity, and the per-
meability of the sample is strong. This is caused by the irregular shape of
the gangue block, the poor coordination between adjacent blocks, and
the easy formation of an overhead structure. With the loading process
(such as 5 MPa), the voids in the sample are gradually compressed,
480 J. Li et al. / Powder Technology 376 (2020) 477–485

Fig. 7. Void space marker models and its longitudinal section under different compression conditions(black represents the matrix, and other colors represent the void). (a) 0 MPa (b) 2 MPa
(c) 5 MPa (d) 8 MPa (e) 10 MPa.

the connectivity between adjacent voids is decreased, then closed voids

are gradually formed, and the permeability of the sample is gradually
reduced. Since the breaking of the formed equilibrium structure of the
sample under the external force, the original small size block or broken
small size block and powder particles move towards and fill the voids.
Therefore, the permeability of the sample is gradually reduced. When
the sample is loaded to 10 MPa, the powder particles formed by the
block breaking are packed in the void, and a compact structure is pack-
aged for the large size block. As a result, the voids in the sample are fur-
ther compressed, filled and closed, which greatly improve the stability
of the void in the structure. Hence, the permeability of the sample is fur-
ther reduced and gradually stabilized.

3.2. Spatial-temporal distribution and evolution characteristics of the void

ratio and void structure

3.2.1. Spatial-temporal distribution and evolution characteristics of

void ratio
The void volume of the sample is extracted based on the void space
marker model, and the void distribution and its fitting curve under dif-
ferent stress states are obtained, as shown in Fig. 9. To analyze the rela-
tionship between the macro deformation and void evolution of the
sample, the stress-strain curve is drawn synchronously in Fig. 8.
It can be seen from Fig. 8 that, the stress-strain curve of GSW sam-
ples under the condition of lateral compression is nonlinear, which
can be fitted as a logarithmic function y = 0.127 × ln (x + 0.825).
With the increase of stress, its deformation speed gradually decreases,
and the final strain tends to be stable; the void ratio gradually decreases
with the increase of loading stress, and the relationship between them
can be fitted as a linear function. It can be concluded that in the process
of loaded compression of GSW, when the stress is low (≤2 MPa), the de-
crease of void ratio is the main factor leading to the compressive defor-
mation of GSW. However, with the increase of stress, the change of void
ratio plays a smaller role in the deformation of the sample. Specifically,
the decrease rate of void ratio is always constant, while the strain rate is
gradually reduced. It indicates that the deformation mechanism of solid
waste gangue is simple in the early loaded compression due to the com-
pression of voids. In the later stage of loaded compression, the deforma-
tion mechanism is relatively complex. The optimization and adjustment
Fig. 8. Evolution of void ratio and stress-strain curve of GSW under the loaded
compression.
of the internal structure of the sample (block crushing, grading optimi-
zation, strengthening of contact force chain between blocks caused by
block movement, and the increase of the coordination number) lead
to the continuous decrease of the void ratio, the stable deformation
trend and the increase of bearing capacity.
3.2.2. Spatial-temporal distribution and evolution characteristics of micro
void structure
At present, scholars at home and abroad have done a lot of research
on the void ratio of broken rock materials, and the research mainly fo-
cuses on the measurement of its overall void ratio [45,47–49], while
the research on the 3D void ratio structure inside the sample (such as
the distribution and proportion of void ratio of different sizes) is less.
To quantitative analyze the void structure of GSW samples, based on
the void space marker model of GSW samples, each void in the model
is replaced by an imaginary ball of equal volume, then the equivalent di-
ameter of each void can be determined by Eq. (1) (where Deq is the
equivalent diameter, Vpore is the void volume). With the increase of
 J. Li et al. / Powder Technology 376 (2020) 477–485 481

Fig. 9. Spatial distribution evolution of voids (Deq ≤ 5 mm).

Fig. 10. Space distribution evolution of void (5 mm ≤ Deq ≤ 10 mm).

Fig. 11. Space distribution evolution of voids (10 mm ≤ Deq ≤ 15 mm).

Fig. 12. Space distribution evolution of voids (15 mm ≤ Deq ≤ 20 mm).

Fig. 13. Space distribution evolution of voids (20 mm ≤ Deq ≤ 25 mm).

482 J. Li et al. / Powder Technology 376 (2020) 477–485
Fig. 14. Space distribution evolution of voids (25 mm ≤ Deq ≤ 30 mm).
Fig. 15. Space distribution evolution of voids (30 mm ≤ Deq ≤ 35 mm).
Fig. 16. Space distribution evolution of voids (Deq ≥ 35 mm).
loading, space distribution evolution of voids with different equivalent
diameters are obtained, as shown in Figs. 9 and 10. The distribution of
effective diameter voids and the change of the number of effective di-
ameter voids of GSW samples under different compression conditions
are statistically obtained, as shown in Figs. 17 and 18.
rffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
3 6  V pore
Deq ¼
π
In this paper, the void with Deq ≤ 10 mm is defined as the small void,
10 mm ≤ Deq ≤ 20 mm as the medium void, 20 mm ≤ Deq ≤ 35 mm as the
large void, and Deq ≥ 35 mm as the extra large void.
From Fig. 9–18, it can be concluded that:
(1) Under the same stress state, the smaller the equivalent diameter
of voids in the GSW sample, the more uniform the spatial distri-
bution. The best spatial distribution uniformity is obtained by
small voids with Deq ≤ 5 mm, and the worst spatial distribution
uniformity by large voids with Deq ≥ 35 mm.
(2) In addition to the small voids, the equivalent diameter distribu-
tion of voids in different stress states of GSW samples is basically
unimodal, and Deq of the voids are mainly concentrated in
15 mm–25 mm. With the progress of loading process, the con-
centrated range moves to the left gradually. It indicates that in
the process of compression deformation of broken gangue sam-
ples, the voids are compressed as a whole to a certain extent,
but there are some differences in the amount of void compres-
sion in different sizes. Specifically, the larger the void, the greater
the amount of compression.
(3) With the increase of load, the number of small voids with
Deq ≤ 10 mm increases gradually, among which the number of
small voids with Deq ≤ 5 mm increases most obviously, the num-
ber of medium voids with 10 mm ≤ Deq ≤ 15 mm increases or de-
creases, the number of voids with Deq ≥ 15 mm decreases or even
disappears gradually, the large voids with 30 mm ≤ Deq ≤ 35 mm
disappear after the stress exceeds 8 MPa, and the extra large voids
with Deq ≥ 35 mm disappear when the stress exceeds 2 MPa.
To further analyze the relationship between the change of voids
with different sizes and the change of overall voids in the GSW com-
pressive deformation, the voids of each size occupied by the sample
are calculated to reveal the influence mechanism of voids with different
sizes on the change of overall voids. The calculation results and the total
void ratio are drawn in Fig. 19.
Fig. 19, it is concluded that:
ð1Þ
(1) In the initial state, the total void ratio of the GSW sample is 0.455,
in which the void ratio of extra large voids with Deq ≥ 35 mm mm
is 0.018, accounting for 4.0% of the total void ratio; the void ratio
of large voids with 20 mm ≤ Deq ≤ 35 mm is 0.304, accounting for
66.8%; the void ratio of medium voids with 10 mm ≤ Deq ≤ 20 mm
is 0.132, accounting for 29.0%; and the void ratio of small void
with Deq ≤ 10 mm is 0.001, accounting for 0.2%. It can be seen
that in the uncompressed samples, the voids are mainly large
and medium voids, accounting for 95.8% of the total. Although
the number of small voids is large, the volume of small voids ac-
counts for a very small proportion of the total voids. Besides, in
large voids with Deq ≥ 20 mm and extra large voids, the larger
the equivalent diameter, the greater the void ratio.
 J. Li et al. / Powder Technology 376 (2020) 477–485 483

Fig. 17. Equivalent diameter distribution histogram and frequency curve of broken gangue voids.
484 J. Li et al. / Powder Technology 376 (2020) 477–485

summary, the larger the void, the easier it is to be compressed.

When the void is compressed to 10 mm, further compression
is more difficult to be performed.
(4) With the increase of stress, the void ratio of medium voids
with 10 mm ≤ Deq ≤ 20 mm increases at first and then de-
creases gradually; and the smaller the void, the smaller the
change range. The void ratio of medium voids with
10 mm ≤ Deq ≤ 15 mm changes very little. It can be seen that
the the medium voids with 10 mm ≤ D eq ≤ 15 mm is com-
pressed into small voids, while the large and extra large
voids are also compressed into medium voids equivalent to
this interval.
(5) The void ratio of small voids with Deq ≤ 10 mm gradually in-
creases with the increase of stress, and the number also in-
creases sharply, but the volume accounts for a small
proportion of the total voids. This can be explained as follows:
as the loading progresses, the middle voids, large voids and
extra large voids are gradually compressed into small voids
Fig. 18. Changes of void number of different equivalent diameter with the increase of or filled by small blocks and divided into several closed
stress.
voids. Therefore, the small and medium voids of GSW samples
have little contribution to the change of the overall void ratio
of the samples in the process of compression and deformation,
but the sharp increase in the number of small and medium
voids can reflect the improvement of the compactness and
structural stability of the samples, as well as the poor connec-
tivity and permeability between voids.

4. Conclusions

In this paper, through CT scanning experiment and 3D reconstruc-

tion technology, the internal structure of the GSW filling materials is vi-
sualized, and the void ratio and spatial-temporal evolution
characteristics of the void structure of the GSW filling materials under
the condition of loaded compression are studied. The main conclusions
are as follows:

Fig. 19. Changes of sample void ratio of different equivalent diameter with the increase of
stress.
(2) With the increase of the loading stress, the void ratio of large void
with 20 mm ≤ Deq ≤ 35 mm decreases gradually, showing a sim-
ilar trend with the total void ratio. The total void ratio changes
from 0.455 at initial state to 0.365, 0.247, 0.185 and 0.143 at
2 MPa, 5 MPa, 8 MPa and 10 MPa, respectively, which are
80.2%, 54.3%, 40.7% and 31.4% of the initial void ratio. The void
ratio of large voids changes from 0.304 at initial state to 0.199,
0.108, 0.061 and 0.045 at 2 MPa, 5 MPa, 8 MPa and 10 MPa, re-
spectively, which are 65.5%, 35.5%, 20.0% and 14.8% of the initial
void ratio. Therefore, the change of the overall void ratio of the
GSW sample in the process of compressive deformation is mainly
caused by the change of the large void, and the main result of the
compression is the obvious reduction of the large void volume.
(3) With the progress of loading, the whole change process of
large voids and extra large voids can be divided into rapid re-
duction stage and stable stage. The larger the void, the faster
the change speed of rapid reduction stage, and the lower the
stress level is required to reach a stable stage. The large
voids with 20 mm ≤ Deq ≤ 25 mm, 25 mm ≤ Deq ≤ 30 mm and
30 mm ≤ D eq ≤ 35 mm can reach the stable stage at 8 MPa,
5 MPa and 2 MPa, respectively. When the stress is over
2 MPa, the extra large voids with Deq ≥ 35 mm disappear. In
(1) By the CT scanning test, the CT slice of the inner structure of the
GSW filling materials are obtained. Through a series of CT image
processing and 3D reconstruction technology, the digital 3D
structure model and the void space marker model are obtained.
As a result, the inner structure characteristics of gangue matrix
and void in the GSW are clearly illustrated, and the transparency
of internal structure of GSW is realized under the condition of
loaded compression.
(2) With the increase of stress, the void ratio of GSW gradually de-
creases, and the relationship between them can be fitted as a lin-
ear function. It can be concluded that in the process of loaded
compression of GSW, when the stress is low (≤2 MPa), the de-
crease of void ratio is the main factor leading to the compressive
deformation of GSW. However, with the increase of stress, the
change of void ratio plays a smaller role in the deformation of
the sample.
(3) The voids between GSW samples have the characteristics of geo-
metric diversity and spatial distribution disorder, and their inter-
connections form a complex void network structure. In the initial
state, the GSW sample has a large number voids and their vol-
ume is large, the adjacent voids have strong connectivity, and
the permeability of the sample is strong. Under the action of ex-
ternal forces, the voids in the sample are gradually compressed,
the connectivity between adjacent voids is decreased, then
closed voids are gradually formed, and the permeability of the
sample is gradually reduced.
(4) The distribution of the equivalent diameter of the voids of the
GSW samples under different stress states is basically unimodal,
and the Deq of voids is mainly concentrated in the range 15 mm -
25 mm. In the uncompressed sample, large and medium voids
 J. Li et al. / Powder Technology 376 (2020) 477–485
are dominated, accounting for 95.8% of the total. For the large
voids and extra large voids with Deq ≥ 20 mm, the larger the
equivalent diameter of voids, the larger the void ratio. In the pro-
cess of compression deformation, the larger the void, the easier it
is to be compressed. When the void is compressed to 10 mm, fur-
ther compression is more difficult to be performed. The change of
the overall voids of the sample is mainly caused by the change of
the large voids, and rarely affected by small voids. However, the
sharp increase in the number of small voids can reflect the poor
connectivity and permeability between the voids, as well as the
improvement of compactness and structural stability.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declared that they have no conflicts of interest to this
work. We declare that we do not have any commercial or associative in-
terest that represents a conflict of interest in connection with the work
submitted.
Acknowledgement
Financial support of this work is provided by the National Natural
Science Foundation of China (Grant number: 51774269), the National
Key R&D Program of China (Grant number: 2018YFC0604705) and In-
dependent Research Projects of State Key Laboratory of Coal Resources
and Safe Mining, CUMT (Grant number: SKLCRSM18X004).
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