Modified value stabilization methodology (MVSM) to efficiently determine the sample size required for particle morphology quantification

Selection of the representative sample size (RSS) to be imaged and analyzed to adequately represent the material of interest is the first and crucial step in morphology characterization of granular materials. Although the most widely-used method of value stabilization methodology (VSM) is a fast and straightforward method to determine an RSS that has a highly similar mean value (MV) to its population, it suffers from several drawbacks. In this study, a modified VSM (MVSM) is proposed which can be used to systematically and efficiently determine reliable estimates of RSS. The sensitivity of the proposed MVSM to potentially affecting factors is investigated through a sensitivity analysis. The MVSM is also applied to real CT scanning and DIA data of four standard sands that have a wide range of angularity. The analyses showed that the proposed method can ensure significantly high similarity between the MVs of an RSS and its population. © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.