ITS Dens-itometer GUI Version 7.

Dens-itometer
Background
Information

Industrial Tomography Systems

Sunlight House T: +44 (0) 161 832 9297
85 Quay Street F: +44 (0) 161 839 5195
Manchester, M3 3JZ E: tech.support@itoms.com
United Kingdom www.itoms.com

Registered in England No.04139271

CONTENTS
Manufacturer Information .................................................................................................................................................................................................. 3

Contact Details:...................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 3
1.1 Equipment covered ................................................................................................................................................................................................... 3
1.2 Scope ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 3

2) Image Reconstruction ..................................................................................................................................................................................................... 5

3) Soil profile characterisation ........................................................................................................................................................................................... 8

3) Calculation of Concentration ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 9

4) Salinity vs. Density .......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 11

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Manufacturer Information
Manufactured by:
Industrial Tomography Systems
Sunlight House
85 Quay Street
Manchester
M3 3JZ
Registered in England: Number 04139271

Contact Details:
Tel. + 44 161 237 5779
Fax + 44 161 237 5669
Email tech.support@itoms.com
Web www.itoms.com

Industrial Tomography Systems makes every effort to ensure that this document is correct. However, due to Industrial Tomography
Systems policy of continual product development we are unable to guarantee the accuracy of this, or any other document, after the
date of publication. We therefore disclaim all liability for any changes, errors or omissions after the date of publication.

The copyright of this manual is owned by Industrial Tomography Systems. Purchasers of the Densitometer system may make copies
of this manual for their own use only. All other reproduction or copying is prohibited unless authorized in writing by ITS.

1) Introduction
1.1 Equipment covered
Systems covered by this manual
Instrument Model: Densitometer v7.0
Ref. number ITS-: Densitometer v7.0

1.2 Scope
This manual is designed to help you get the most out of using your ITS Densitometer electrical resistance tomography system.

This document is only intended for technically qualified personnel that require further knowledge about the technology to
supplement existing communications with ITS. This manual is number G within the following list of manuals.

Number Name Purpose

A Layout
B Enclosure Installation
C Sensor Installation
D GUI Manual
E GUI Quick Start
F Troubleshooting
G Background Information
Layout and Technical Specification
Installation of Hardware
Installation of Sensor and Peripheries
Software Operation
Software Quick Start Options for Operators
Troubleshooting problems
ERT and Dens-Itometer background information for Engineers

The manual assumes a degree of familiarity with using standard Windows software packages and electrical tomography

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We hope the instrument meets your needs and that you find tomography as useful and exciting as the people already involved in
developing and using the Dens-itometer system.

If you have detailed questions regarding the instrument or the principles and applications for tomography, please e-mail the ITS
helpdesk on tech.support@itoms.com.

1.3 Terms
The following table contains some terms and abbreviations used in this manual.

Terms and Abbreviations

Abbreviation Term Meaning
ERT Electrical Resistance Tomography Measurement methodology underpinning the technology
P2+ Instrument used for ERT measurement
Dens-itometer System compromising ERT, GUI, p2+ and electronics
Dens-itometer Enclosure Enclosure containing p2+ and electronics
Bachman Industrial PC and peripherals
Sensor Polyurethane or Ceramic lined spool piece
DAS Data acquisition system p2+ Instrument Data Acquisition System
Tomogram Pixelated map of pipe cross section for conductivity or concentration on GUI

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2) Image Reconstruction
a) Sensor Geometry
The sensor electrode geometry, depicted in Figure 1 below shows electrodes arranged at equal intervals around the boundary of a
circular spool piece. Alternative arrangements include electrodes arranged around a square cross-section and a vertical series of
electrodes. The electrodes are connected to the data acquisition system by co-axial cable which assists in reducing the effect of
extraneous environmental noise and interference. The outer sheath of the co-axial cable is coupled to the feedback path of a
voltage buffer to provide further noise immunity and the inner core is capacitively coupled to the input of the voltage buffer.

Figure 1: Electrode Arrangement on Sensor

A spare electrode referred to as the ground electrode, positioned away from the measurement electrodes but in electrical contact
with the internal fluid is required to ensure all voltage measurements are fixed against a common ground source.

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b) Pixelated Image

Following the acquisition of data from the boundary of the object to be imaged it is necessary to process this data using an
appropriate image reconstruction algorithm. For an ERT system the reconstructed image will contain information on the cross-
sectional distribution of the electrical conductivity of the contents within the measurement plane. A square grid with 20 x 20 = 400
pixels represents the vessel interior cross-section. Some of these pixels will lie outside the vessel circumference as shown in Figure
31 and the image is therefore formed from the pixels inside the vessel. The circular Image is constructed using 316 pixels from the
400 pixel square grid.

Figure 2: Pixelated Tomogram

It is well known that, for electrostatic fields, when current lines are encountered by an interface of different conductivities, the
current lines will deflect. Therefore image reconstruction algorithms such as those for straight-ray transmission (e.g. X-ray, γ-ray) are
inappropriate. In addition reconstruction algorithms developed for diffraction tomography such as ultrasonic and optical are
unsuitable since the propagation of electromagnetic field lines and the distribution of electrostatic field lines are governed by
different differential equations.

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b) Tomogram

The choice of image reconstruction algorithm is a trade-off between accuracy of image and time required for reconstruction. There
has been a demand for fast image reconstruction algorithms that can be used for the real time imaging of fast moving processes.
Therefore much effort has been focused on the development of image reconstruction algorithms, both non-iterative and iterative,
for electrical tomography.

Region of low
conductivity

Region of high
conductivity

Figure 2 Tomogram showing region of high and low conductivity

Figure 2 shows a typical tomographic image obtained from the linear back-projection algorithm. The image contains a region of high
conductivity indicated by the color red and a region of low conductivity indicated by the color blue. The scale below the image
relates color to conductivity. In this case the scale is between 0.08 and 0.15 mS/cm.

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3) Soil profile characterisation
When the user starts a dredging process in a new site, the clay properties is often unknown. Because ERT technology is sensitive to
the conductive material, it is very important for the user to understand the conductivity profile of the clay prior to the ERT
measurement. The following procedure is set to obtain the clay conductivity profile in the background solution (sea or fresh water).

 Add clay into a container and mixed it well into a homogenous state (Figure 3.1).
 Place a conductivity probe at the top part of the container to measure the conductivity of the mixture, σ1
 Wait for a period of time (roughly 30 minutes) for the clay particles to settle down
 Observe the conductivity reading, σ2 as the clay is settled (Figure 3.2).
 The conductive change, ∆σ is calculated by ∆σ = σ1– σ2. If ∆σ >0, clay is more conductive than the water. If ∆σ <0, clay is
less conductive, or acting as non-conducting material in the solution.
 The procedures above shall be conducted for all the future processes when the soil properties are unclear in a new site.
Typically, ERT measurement will have the best performance when ∆σ << 0.

Figure 3: Setup for obtaining clay profile (left 3.1 and right 3.2)

It should be noted that these tests are qualitative and to characterize a single material as conducting or non-conducting; the
magnitude of change will be strongly dependent on other factors such as particle size. When carrying out the test it is essential to
use the same fluid as will be present during operation.

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3) Calculation of Concentration
The software utilities variations of well-established equations that related the electrical conductivity of processes to

a) Conductive phase
This calculates the concentration of a conducting dispersed phase using the full Maxwell equation.

 mc 2
2 1   2  2 mc 
1

2
 mc    2( 1   2 )
 1 mc

Where α is the volume fraction of the dispersed material

σ1 is the conductivity of the continuous phase, mS/cm
σ2 is the conductivity of the dispersed phase, mS/cm
σmc is the reconstructed measured conductivity, mS/cm

b) Non-conductive phase

This calculates the concentration of a non-conducting dispersed phase using a simplified version of the Maxwell equation (obtained
because σ2=0) as follows:

2 1  2 mc

 mc  2 1
Please note that when this option is selected the second phase conductivity is defaulted to zero (even if a value other than zero is
entered in the configuration – sensor window)

c) Miscible phase

The following equation was obtained from experimental calibration for a high conductivity injection of 15 mS/cm NaCl solution into a
background liquid of conductivity 0.1 mS/cm

 s  0.0687 mc  0.1087

Where αs is the concentration of NaCl (0«αs»10), g/l

σmc is the reconstructed measured conductivity, mS/cm

d) Slurry Maxwell

This option utilizes the full Maxwell’s equation as follows:

 mc 2
2 1   2  2 mc 
1

2
 mc    2( 1   2 )
 1 mc

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e) Slurry Bruggeman

This conversion utilizes the following modified equation:

[𝜎𝑚𝑐 − 𝜎2 ] 3 𝜎1
𝛼 = 1 − [( )× √ ]
[𝜎1 − 𝜎2 ] 𝜎𝑚𝑐

f) Slurry Dynamic Mean

This conversion utilizes the following modified equation:

{∑316
𝑖=1 (𝜎1𝑖 − 𝜎𝑚𝑐𝑖 )}
𝛼=| |
316

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4) Salinity vs. Density
It is know that the change in salinity will affect the value for density of the water based on the increase in wt%. Table 1 below notes
o
the effect of salinity versus density at a constant temperature of 25 C. This can also be noted in Figure 4 below.

Table 1: Salinity vs. Density of water

wt% Density [kg/m3] Mass NaCl [g/L]

1 1000.5 10.053
2 1012.5 20.25
4 1026.8 41.042
6 1041.3 62.478
8 1055.9 84.472
10 1070.7 107.07
11.3 1080.2 121.772
12 1085.7 130.284
14 1100.9 154.126
16 1116.2 178.592
18 1131.9 203.742
20 1147.8 229.56
22 1164 256.08
24 1180.4 283.296
26 1197.2 311.272

1250

1200
Density (kg/m3)

1150

1100

1050

1000

950
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Concentrantion (w/w%)

Figure 4: Salinity vs. Density

Reference: F. J. Millero and F. Huang , The density of seawater as a function of salinity (5 to 70 g kg−1 ) and temperature (273.15 to
363.15 K) ,Ocean Sci., 5, 91–100, 2009

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Industrial Tomography Systems
Sunlight House T: +44 (0) 161 832 9297
85 Quay Street F: +44 (0) 161 839 5195
Manchester, M3 3JZ E: sales.support@itoms.com
United Kingdom www.itoms.com

Registered in England No.04139271

ITS System v5rv1.0 -2013 © Industrial Tomography Syste