Multifractal characterization of pore size distributions measured by mercury intrusion porosimetry

Abstract

The aim of this work was to assess the multifractal characteristics of pore size distributions measured by mercury injection porosimetry (MIP). Two pairs of soil samples were collected in plots with different topographic position and soil use, with each pair differentiated by distinct proportion of fine particles and organic matter contents. Macropore volume was higher on samples with higher clay and organic matter content. Mass exponent function, singularity spectra and generalized dimension spectra showed that multifractal distribution was a suitable model for mercury injection curves. Multifractal parameters extracted from singularity spectra and generalized dimension spectra reflected the main characteristics of the pore size distributions (PSDs). Therefore, it was concluded that multifractal analysis is useful for distinguishing between different patterns of pore size distributions obtained by Hg injection.