Permeability and

Seepage

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 Why studying flow of water in
porous media ???????
 To determine the rate of flow of water through soils

 To determine the hydraulic conductivity of soils

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Practical application

Construction of the
basement of the building

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 Question?

 What causes the flow of water through soils?

 What law describes the flow of water through
soils?
 What is hydraulic conductivity and how is it
determined?
 What are the typical values of hydraulic
conductivity for coarse-grained and fine-
grained soils?

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Flow of Water in Soils depends on

 Porosity of the soil

 Type of the soil (particle size, particle
shape & degree of packing)
 Viscosity of the fluid (Temperature &
Chemical Components)
 Total head (difference in energy) -
Pressure head& Elevation head

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What is permeability?
A measure of how easily a fluid (e.g., water)
can pass through a porous medium (e.g.,
soils)

water

Loose soil Dense soil

- easy to flow - difficult to flow
- high permeability - low permeability 7
 Bernoulli’s Equation
The energy of a fluid particle is
made of:
1. Kinetic energy
fluid particle

- due to velocity
z
2. Strain energy
- due to pressure
datum
3. Potential energy
- due to elevation (z) with respect to a datum

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 Bernoulli’s Equation
Expressing energy in unit of length:
2
u 
h  Z
 w 2g fluid particle

Total head
z

datum
Pressure head
Elevation head
Velocity head 9
 Bernoulli’s Equation
For flow through soils, velocity (and thus
velocity head) is very small. Therefore,

0
fluid particle
Velocity head
+
z
Total head Pressure head
= + datum
Elevation head

Total head = Pressure head + Elevation head

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 Some Notes
If flow is from A to B, total head is higher at
A than at B.

Energy is dissipated in
water
overcoming the soil
resistance and hence B
A
is the head loss.

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Some Notes
Hydraulic gradient (i) between A and B is the total
head loss per unit length.

A L B

H  H1  H2
i
L L

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Hydraulic gradient

The head Loss , h

= hA – hB
=(uA/w + ZA) – ((uB/w + ZB)

Hydraulic gradient, i
= h/L

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 Example for Head and hydraulic gradient

Determine the following:

a) The elevation, pressure

and total head at points A
and B
b) The head loss between A
and B
c) The hydraulic gradient
between point A and B

Answers: a) point A =6.63m, point B = 5.88m, Total head A= 12.51m

b) 0.75m
c) 0.0375
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 Darcy’s Law
•Valid for laminar flow only
•Discharge velocity (v) is proportional to
the hydraulic gradient (i) – Darcy (1856)
v=ki

Permeability
• or hydraulic conductivity
• unit of velocity (cm/sec)

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Discharge velocity and seepage
velocity
• The average velocity, (V) is for the cross-sectional area
normal to the direction of flow

• However the flow of water through soils, occurs only

through the interconnected void

• The velocity through the void spaces is called seepage

velocity (Vs)

• The Vs is obtained by dividing the average velocity by

the porosity
• Vs = V/n
= ki/n 16
Vs = v[(1+e)/e] = v/n = ki/n

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Hydraulic conductivity
 Depends on several factors:
1. Fluid viscosity, 
2. Pore size distribution
3. Grain- size distribution
4. Void ratio, e
5. Roughness of particles
6. Degree of saturation, s

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 Hydraulic conductivity measurement

Back calculated

-Rowe cell
- Oedometer test
-Triaxial test

Laboratory In situ/field
Permeability
-Constant head -Slug test
- Falling head -Pumping test

Emperical correlation

-Hazen’s correlation Granular soil

- Kozeny-Carman
-Tavenas et al. (1983) Cohesive soil
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 Laboratory measurement of permeability

Constant Head Test Falling Head test

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 Laboratory measurement of permeability

Constant head test Falling head test

Recommended for coarse- Recommended for fine-grained soils.

grained soils.
Steady total head drop h is
measured across gauge length L,
as water flows through a sample of
cross-section area A.
Total head h in standpipe of area a is
allowed to fall; heads h1 and h2 are
measured at times t1 and t2.
Hydraulic gradient h/L varies with time

aL h1
k  2.303 log10
At h2
Example of constant head test
 A constant head test has the
following data:
- Soil specimen diameter = 18 cm
- Elevation of water in upper-most
piezometer = 181 cm
- Elevation of water in lowest
piezometer = 116.6 cm
- The piezometer inlets are evenly
spaced at 16.7 cm on center
- The water collected in 112 seconds
is 892 ml

Compute the hydraulic conductivity, k

If the soil specimen has a void ratio of
0.85, compute the seepage velocity.
Solution
 892ml  1cm 
3
V 3
Q   ( 
 
  7 . 96 cm
t  112 s  ml  s
D 2  182
A   254cm 2
4 4
h  181  116.6 
i    1.29
L  3  16.7 
Q 7.96cm 3 / s 2
k    2  10 cm / s
iA 1.29  254cm 2

e 0.85
n   46%
1  e 1  0.85
ki 2  10  2 cm / s 1.29
Vs    5.6  10  2 cm / s
n 0.46
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Example of falling head test
 The following data are given in falling
head test.
i) Length of specimen = 38cm
ii) Area of specimen = 19.4 cm2

iii) k= 2.92 x 10-3 cm/sec

Question:
Calculate the area of the standpipe for
the head drop from 64 cm to 30 cmin
8 min?
Emperical estimates of hydraulic conductivity
Granular soil
Formulae Equation
Hazen (1930)
k (cm / s )  cD102 C = a constant (1.0 to 1.5)
D10 = the effective size (mm)

Kozeny-Carmen 1  w e3
(1927, 1938, k
1956) Cs S 2T 2  1  e
Cs = shape function
Ss = specific surface area per unit volume
T = dimensionless factor accounting the shapes of pores
w = unit weight of water
= viscosity of water
e = void ratio

Carrier (2003)  1  e3 
k  1.99 10  2 
4

 S s  1  e 
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Emperical estimates of hydraulic conductivity
Cohesive soil

 en 
k  C  
1 e 
Flow through anisotropic soil
 Alluvial and lacustrine contain thin horizontal
stratifications that reflect their history of
deposition.
 For layered soil, the water flow horizontally
much more easily than vertically.
 Equivalent horizontal and vertical
permeability represent the value for the whole
layer for each direction

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Flow through anisotropic soil
 We can determine the equivalent horizontal and vertical
hydraulic conductivity for layered soils by considering
two constant head test of a layered soil.

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Equivalent hydraulic conductivity in layered soil

Horizontal flow

 k H 1 H1  k H 2 H 2  .......  k Hn H n 
1
k h ( eq )
H 30
Equivalent hydraulic conductivity in layered soil

Vertical flow
H
kv ( eq ) 
 H1   H 2   Hn 
      ....   
 kv1   kv 2   kvn 

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Example

 A certain varved clay consists of alternating horizontal

layers of silt and clay. The silt layers are 5 mm thick and
have k = 3 x 10-4 cm/s. The clay layers are 20 mm thick
and have k = 6 x 10-7 cm/s. Compute kh and kv.

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 Solution

 k h 3 10 4
  
cm / s 0.5cm  6 107 cm / s 2cm
kh  
i i
 6 105 cm / s
h i 0.5cm  2cm

kv 
 h

i 0.5cm  2cm
 7 10 7
cm / s
h  0.5cm 2cm
  k  3 10 cm / s  6 10 cm / s
i
4 7
 i 

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Indirect Laboratory measurement of
permeability

Oedometer
Transient consolidation phenomena are
controlled by the coefficient of consolidation.
With knowledge of one-dimensional compliance
mv, coefficient of permeability k can be estimated
from

k = cvmvw

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Field measurement of permeability

 Field or in-situ measurement of permeability

avoids the difficulties involved in obtaining
and setting up undisturbed samples in a
permeameter or oedometer and also
provides information about bulk permeability,
rather than merely the permeability of a small
and possibly unrepresentative sample.

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Field measurement of permeability
Pumping test

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Field measurement of permeability
Pumping test
In a well-pumping test, the steady-state heads h1 and h2 in observation
boreholes at radii r1 and r2 are monitored at flow rate q

In an unconfined (open
surface) soil stratum

 r1 
2.303q log 10  
k  r2 

 h12  h22 
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Field measurement of permeability
Pumping test
In a well-pumping test, the steady-state heads h1 and h2 in observation
boreholes at radii r1 and r2 are monitored at flow rate q

In a confined equifer

 r1 
q log 10  
k  r2 
2.727 H h1  h2 

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Tutorial : Permeability
1. A sample of sand was tested in a constant head permeameter. The
results were:
Diameter of sample = 100mm
Length between manometer tappings = 120mm
Head difference measured by manometer = 80mm
Quantity of water passing through sample in 10 minutes = 150ml
Determine the coefficient of permeability of the soil

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 Tutorial : Permeability
2. A 100mm diameter sample of fine sand was tested in a falling
head permeameter. The length of the sample was 150mm. Water in
the standpipe fell from 1000 to 400mm in 44 seconds. If the
diameter of the standpipe was 10mm, determine the coefficient of
permeability of the soil.

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 Tutorial : Permeability

3. A sample of coarse sand, 55mm in diameter, was tested in a

constant head permeameter. Water percolated through the soil and a
head loss of 100mm was recorded over a length of sample of
150mm. The discharge water, collected after 6.0 seconds had a mass
of 400g.
Determine the coefficient of permeability of the soil.

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 Tutorial : Permeability

4. A falling head permeability

test is to be performed on a soil
whose permeability is estimated
at 3.0 x 10-3 mm/s. What
diameter of standpipe should
be used if the head is to drop
from 275mm to 200mm in 5
minutes?
Assume that the area of the
sample is 1500mm and its
length is 85mm.

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 Tutorial : Permeability
A pumping out test was carried out on a soil stratum which extended to a
depth of 20m where an impermeable layer was encountered. Ground
water level originally occurred at 0.5m below the ground level.
Observation wells were placed at 5m and 10m from the pumping well.
During steady pumping conditions water was discharged at the rate of 250
kg/minute and the drawdowns in the two wells were 1.5 and 0.2m
Determine the coefficient of permeability of the soil in
metres/hour.

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