Alternative Computation of Dean’s Overfill Ratio

Abstract

An alternative graphical expression is presented for the computation of overfill ratio using the Dean method. The expression yields the same numeric results as the original Dean curves, but allows simple computation of the overfill ratio from a single curve for an unlimited range of sediment cases. The physical significance of results yielded from the Dean method is contrasted with those from the James-Krumbein method. A convenient numeric means to directly translate between phi and millimeter grain sizes is additionally noted.