SANDY: A Matlab tool to estimate the sediment size distribution from a sieve analysis

Abstract

This paper presents a new computational tool called SANDY© which calculates the sediment size distribution and its textural parameters from a sieved sediment sample using Matlab®. The tool has been developed for professionals involved in the study of sediment transport along coastal margins, estuaries, rivers and desert dunes. The algorithm uses several types of statistical analyses to obtain the main textural characteristics of the sediment sample (D50, mean, sorting, skewness and kurtosis). SANDY© includes the method of moments (geometric, arithmetic and logarithmic approaches) and graphical methods (geometric, arithmetic and mixed approaches). In addition, it provides graphs of the sediment size distribution and its classification. The computational tool automatically exports all the graphs as enhanced metafile images and the final report is also exported as a plain text file. Parameters related to bed roughness such as Nikuradse and roughness length are also computed. Theoretical depositional environments are established by a discriminant function analysis. Using the uniformity coefficient the hydraulic conductivity of the sand as well as the porosity and void ratio of the sediment sample are obtained. The maximum relative density related to sand compaction is also computed. The Matlab® routine can compute one or several samples. SANDY© is a useful tool for estimating the sediment textural parameters which are the basis for studies of sediment transport.