Estimation of soil permeability

Abstract

Soils are permeable materials because of the existence of interconnected voids that allow the flow of fluids when a difference in energy head exists. A good knowledge of soil permeability is needed for estimating the quantity of seepage under dams and dewatering to facilitate underground construction. Soil permeability, also termed hydraulic conductivity, is measured using several methods that include constant and falling head laboratory tests on intact or reconstituted specimens. Alternatively, permeability may be measured in the field using insitu borehole permeability testing (e.g. [2]), and field pumping tests. A less attractive method is to empirically deduce the coefficient of permeability from the results of simple laboratory tests such as the grain size distribution. Otherwise, soil permeability has been assessed from the cone/piezocone penetration tests (e.g. [13,14]). In this paper, the coefficient of permeability was measured using field falling head at different depths. Furthermore, the field coefficient of permeability was measured using pumping tests at the same site. The measured permeability values are compared to the values empirically deduced from the cone penetration test for the same location. Likewise, the coefficients of permeability are empirically obtained using correlations based on the index soil properties of the tested sand for comparison with the measured values.