Patent ID: 11879858
Assignee: EIFFAGE GC INFRA LINEAIRES
Field: Measurement (Instruments)
Classification: CPC G | IPC G

Claim 0:
1. A method for identifying a lithological layer of an excavated material, comprising the following steps:
a) analysing a specimen of the excavated material using X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy in order to determine a mass concentration of each of inorganic chemical elements contained in the specimen,, step a) being performed on n different surfaces of the specimen in order to determine n mass concentrations of each of the inorganic chemical elements contained in the specimen, with n being a whole number greater than or equal to 2,
b) calculating a mean of the n mass concentrations of each of the inorganic chemical elements contained in the specimen and a standard deviation of the mean,
c) classifying each of the inorganic chemical elements contained in the excavated material according to the following criteria:
the inorganic chemical element with the mean of the n mass concentrations in the excavated material greater than 1% and the standard deviation of the mean less than 40% is classified as a homogeneous major inorganic chemical element,
the inorganic chemical element with the mean of the n mass concentrations in the excavated material greater than 1% and the standard deviation of the mean greater than 40% is classified as a dispersed major inorganic chemical element,
the inorganic chemical element with the mean of the n mass concentrations in the excavated material which is between 0.01% and 1% and the standard deviation of the mean less than 40% is classified as a homogeneous minor inorganic chemical element,
the inorganic chemical element with the mean of the n mass concentrations in the excavated material which is between 0.01% and 1% and a standard deviation of the mean greater than 40% is classified as a dispersed minor inorganic chemical element,
the inorganic chemical element with the mean of the n mass concentrations in the excavated material less than 0.01% and the standard deviation of the mean less than 40% is classified as a homogeneous trace inorganic chemical element, or
the inorganic chemical element with the mean of the n mass concentrations in the excavated material less than 0.01% and the standard deviation of the mean greater than 40% is classified as a dispersed trace inorganic chemical element, and

d) identifying the lithological layer of the excavated material based on the classification performed during step c).