Aquabeads is a water-based transparent soil made of a polymer capable of absorbing 200 times its own weight in water. Particles of Aquabeads can be easily crushed, allowing the formation of custom grain size distributions. Aquabeads have the same RI as water, which makes them ideal for the study of flow, using water as the matching fluid. Although Aquabeads have been used to study multiphase flow and surfactant flushing in soils they can only simulate very weak marine sediments in deformational studies. Aquabeads have the same refractive index as water, so they can be used to create transparent soils suitable for plant growth. The material is inert and mostly consists of water, so it is suitable for K-12 outreach.
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| Photos of Aquabeads. RHS depicts three grades of hydrated specimens. LHS depicts model of a deep foundation seen through Aquabeads in a second grade Brooklyn classroom
(Note presence of air in-between the particles impairs transparency in both photos) |
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Primary References
- Suescun-Florez, E. M. Iskander, V. Kapila and R. Cain (2013). Geotechnical Engineering in US Elementary Schools. European Journal of Engineering Education, Vol. 38, No. 3, pp. 300–315, doi: 10.1080/03043797.2013.800019, Taylor & Francis [link]
- Fernández-Serrano, R., M. Iskander, and K. Tabe (2011). Contaminant flow imaging in transparent granular porous media. Géotechnique Letters, Vol. 1, No. 3, pp. 71-78, doi: 10.1680/geolett.11.00027, ICE [link]
- Tabe, K., M. Iskander, S. Honma (2011). Transparent aquabeads to visualize flow in porous material. Advanced Material Research, Vol. 239-242, pp. 2602-2605, doi: 10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMR.239-242.2602, Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland [pdf]
- Lo, H-C., K. Tabe, M. Iskander, and S. Yoon (2008). Modeling of 2D flow using transparent Aquabeads. Characterization, Monitoring and Modeling of Geosystems, GSP No. 179, pp. 838-845, ASCE [link]
