PERMEABILIT Y

A Group Report in CE 525 Technical

Elective 3 (Geotechnical and Geo-
environmental Engineering)
What is Permeability?
• is defined as the volume of a fluid of unit viscosity
passing through a unit cross section of the medium in
unit time under the action of a unit pressure gradient.
Soil Permeability

A material is permeable if it contains continuous voids. All materials

such as rocks, concrete, soils etc. are permeable. The flow of water
through all of them obeys approximately the same laws.
Hence, the difference between the flow of water through rock or concrete
is one of degree. The permeability of soils has a decisive effect on the
stability of foundations, seepage loss through
embankments of reservoirs, drainage of sub-grades, excavation of open
cuts in water bearing sand, rate of flow of water into wells and many
others.
Symbols of Permeability
Permeability 01: Types of permeability test and
common units

• Constant head and Falling head test are the two types of
permeability test; constant head test is performed for granular
soils (gravels G and sand S ), whereas the falling head test is
used for fine-grained (cohesive) soils (silts M ,and clays C).
• The “common” unit of permeability is cm/sec.
Permeability 02: Use of Hazen’s formula to
estimate the “k” of an aquifer

Solution:
 Permeability 03: Flow in a sand layer
from a canal to a river

• A canal and a river run parallel an average of 250 ft. apart.

The elevation of the water surface in the canal is at +1050 ft
and in the river at +1021. A stratum of sand intersects both the
river and the canal below their water levels. The sand is 6 ft.
thick, and is sandwiched between strata of impervious clay.
Compute the seepage loss q from the canal in cu.ft. per day-
mile if the permeability of the sand is 2x10^-3 ft/sec.
Solution:
Permeability 04: Find the equivalent
horizontal permeability of two layers
Solution:
Permeability 05: Equivalent vertical and
horizontal permeabilities
Solution:
Permeability 06: Ratio of horizontal to
vertical permeabilites
Estimate the ratio of the horizontal to the vertical permeability of these
four strata.
Solution:
 Permeability 07: Do not confuse a
horizontal with a vertical permeability
Solution:
Permeability 08: Permeability as a function of
the voids ratio e

Solution:
Permeability 09: Uplift pressures from vertical
flows
Solution:
Permeability 10: Capillary rise in tubes
differing diameters
 Solution:

The surface tension of water Ts ranges from about 0.064 to 0.075 N/m
(0.0044 to 0.0051 lb/ft). In this problem we have chosen the largest
value . Notice that the negative sign indicates that the water has risen
due to the capillary tension .
Permeability 11: Rise of the water table due to
capillarity saturation

Solution:
Permeability 12: Find the capillary rise hc in
silt stratum using Hazen
Solution:
Permeability 13: Back-hoe trench test to
estimate the field permeability
Solution:
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