Home About Us Publish Now Hello Investors Dlaclaimer Privacy Policy, Flow of Water Through Soil -— Permeability and Factors Affecting Permeability Introduction Permeability is one ofthe important physical properties of soll as some ofthe major problems of sol mechanics are directly connected with it. Design of highways, airports, ‘earth dams, construction of foundation below water table yield from a well, setement of foundation ete. depend upon the permeability of sol. Hence tohecome a good soil, engineer the knowledge of permeability is very essential, A material Is sald 10 be permeable iit contains continuous voids, Since such voids are contained in all soils ‘including the stiffest clay, all these are permeable. Gravels are highly permeable and sit clays the least permeable soi, Importance of Permeability: ‘The knowiedge of permeabliyis important forthe fllowing engineering problems: (Seepage through earthen dams and canals. (Gd Unit pressure under hydraulic structure and safety against piping iy Rat of settlement ofa saturated compressible soil layer. (dv) Vietd from a well and drainage of waterlogged agricultural land. (©) Stability of upstream and downstream slopes of dams. Detinitions: Permeability: Pesmeability is the property ofthe sol which allows water to passthrough ts Anterconnecting voids. Laminar Flow: ‘The flowin which al the particles of water move in parallel paths without crossing the path of oer pardeles ‘Turbulent Flow: ‘The low in which al he particles of water move in 2ig-ag path Hydraulic Gradient: Contact Us Content Guidelines GAyvourarncygLiprary foe pishng your ares on tise, please scams. copy. apa Vaon {Main Case fieatons of Communiestion Methods Extension Education: Research and Application Tanstrof Technology Project ofthe CAR: 4 Projects ‘Study Notes on Organization] Management Non-Profit and Proft Organizations atthe Local Level | Management‘The loos of hydaulic head per unit distance of low is called hydraulic gradient. Consider a saturated low through a uniform porous soll mass of length Land eth P2 and hP2 be the piezometric head” or “Pressure head! atthe entry and exit face respectively Let>Z1 and — ‘za be the elevation head at the entry and ext face assuming the downstream water level as the datum line. The velocity head for ow through soli negligible. Determination of Hydraulle Gradient: ‘The total head ressure head + Elevation heed ‘The total head atthe entry face, Hi=hpl+ zi ‘The oral head atthe exis face io p2-z2=0 ‘The total head diference Henna, Piak Prez om np 1 This total head difference is referred as the hydraulic head or head loss or ‘head drop’. any elevation can be selected for datum, asthe base of elevation heads, The advantages of choosing the downstream water level asthe datum i thatthe total head a the exits Decomes zero and elevation of water in a plezometer at any point in soll measured above the datum line gives directly the hydraulichead ‘The loss of head per unit distance of flow (or long the length of flow) is called hydraulic aradient. Iie denoted by T head loss Tength along te flow path over which head loss ish Darcy's Law 1m the mid-eighteenth century H. Darcy working in Paris studied experimentally the ow of water through sol. For laminar flow through saturate soll Darcy establishedexperimentally thatthe rate of flow ‘across a sectional rea ‘the hyraulle gradient’ ana orga=K orv= Ki where V= Flaw velocity Cocfficient of permeability Hydraulic gradient Darcy's law is valid long asthe flow i laminar. Ie is applied to soil faction finer than fine gravels, Flow Velocity (or Discharge Velocity: isan apparent velocity being equal to average rate of flow across a unit gross area inthe soil Rate of lows the volume of water flowing per unit time, Seepage Velocity: Seepage velocity isthe actual or true velocity with which water Now through sol vols, Le Avbe the area of voids and Abe the gross area of sol perpendicular to the direction of low. The rate of flow may be equated as q-VA= AVS ors AAV ‘Te length of flow is same for both the case and n= Volume of void Total volume] orvs=a-e8)V Where VFlow velocity S= Seepage velocity = Vold ratio Porosity As (1-0/9 Is always greater than unity, Weis a always greater than ¥ Co-ticint of Permeability: ‘We know q=KtA Darcy’ law) ating A= 1 and: in equation we get ‘Le. co-efficient of permeability, also known as hydraulic conductivity, may be defined as the rate of flow of water under laminar flow conditions through a unit cross-sectional area fa porous medium under a unit hydraulic gradient and standard temperature conditions‘The empirical relatonship between K and D10 developed by #a2en (1911) for loose, clean. sand is p12 where K = co-efficient of permeability crus) = Hazen’ coefficient = 0.8 ta 1.21.0 is commonly used) lO = Effective size of soit Co-tticient of Percolatior ‘The seepage velocity is also proportional to the hydraulic gradient. Sareea peers pnentiitione “fun e [Wwetoom Factors Affecting Permeability: Permeability ean be obtained from the theoretial equation of Kozeny-Carman for Now ‘through porous medium “a 20 631-2, mn aa ‘Where C= Composite shape factor Do= Representative particle size old ratio ‘The factors which affect he permeability ae: (i Properties of pore Bid (a) Sie an shape of particles (i Void ratio of soi go Structural arrangement of soi particles (0) Degree of saturation (cd Adsorbed water (cit stratification (i Properties of pore uid:From equation 43itis clear that the density and viscosity are the two physical properties of pore fuld (or water) which affects the permeability. The coefficient of permeability Is, irectly proportional to density of water and inversely proportional tits viscosity. The value of density of water does not change much with the change in temperature but there {sa great variation in viscosity. The viscosity decreases with increase in temperature and therefore permeability increase with increase in temperature. (i) Size and shape of particios: Pesmeabilityof sols directly proportional ta the square ofthe particle size as shown in ‘equation 43. This is most significant factor affecting permeability of soll as they decide the void ratio, size and shape of pores ina soil mass. A coarse soil has larger pore sizes and here greater Ke, coefficient of permeability than the fine grained solls, (iy Void ratio ot sot ‘The marked influence of void ratio on permeability of sil as shown in the equation 4.3 has Deen experimentally verified Kaea/ ie From the above equation itis clear that Kis directly proportional tothe void ratioj.e, more ‘he void rato of soll more wal be the permeability. A semilog relationship also exists Detween Kand eA plot of log K log scele) Ve (linear scale) is approximately a straight line both course grained and fine grained soi. LZ (i) Structural arrangement of sol particles: ‘The structural arrangement of he sol particles vary, a the same vold rato, depending ‘upon the method of compaction of sol mass. The permeability of disturbed sample may be ifferent from that ofthe undisturbed sample at the same void rato. The effect of structural disturbance on permeability is much pronounced in fine grained soils. (u) Degree of saturation: ‘The permeability of soll is observed to vary directly withthe eube of the degree of saturation, Thus the more dhe saturated sol, more will be the permeability. However the pressure of entrapped air in sil pores obstructs the low of water. (wi Adsorbed water: Fine particles of clay are surrounded by films of adsorbed water. Forces of adsorption and evelopment of atfuseforlayer around the ela particles create immobilized hyclrodynamic layers of water, thereby reducing the effective pore space available for seepage. (ui) statication: Layered soil poses different permeability characteristics. The permeability of the same soils more when the flow is parallel othe layer than the permesbilty when the flow is, perpendicular tothe layer.Method ot Letermination of Lo-Ethieient of Permeability: “The cosftclnt of permeabilty can be determined by the folowing methods: (@) Laboratory methods [Direct methods] (constant head permeabity test (Gi Fating head tes (©) Field methods (Pumping out cests (Go Pumping in tests (© Indirect methods (computation from grain Horizontal capilarity est (dy Consolidated test date ‘constant Head Permeability Test ‘The igure 4.3 shows diagrammatical representation of the test. ‘Water flows from the overhead tank consists of three tubes: inet, oulet andl overflow ‘ube. Constant head hs maintained throughout the est. As te length ofthe sol sample ‘Vis fixed throughout the test, the hydraulic gradient ‘remains constant all through the We know I= iL ‘Where h= difference of water level of overhead tank and bottom tank. IfQis the total quantity of fow ina te interval'¢, we have form Darcy's law.‘The measurement of Qis done after reaching the steady state, The testis repeated two or three times and the average value of Q is taken forthe calculation of K This testis suitable {or coarse grained sol where a reasonable discharge can be collected in a given time. Traeeaa h (oe Guam eo ay thon ga88 & epee i egzaaa a4 73] i 4 % a Falling Head Permeability Tost: Falling head testis suitable for less permeable sols. A stand pipe of known cross sectional area‘ ted with the permeameter and water i allowed to run down through this pipe ‘The water level inthe stand pipe constantly falls as water ows. Observations are started after steady state of low has reached. The head at any time is equal tthe difference in water levels in the stand pipe and the bottom tank [FREE a toa ‘Lech and he be heads at time intervals t and t respectively (> 2), Leth be the head at any intermediate time interval t and ah be the change inthe head ina smaller time ncerval ‘a minus sign has been used since h decreases as increases). From Darcy's aw, the rate of low qis given by yang ete he oi, we at ard bore rte Ts weiter aie | ae jp grit rik oh = (t)-eten( ‘The laboratory observations consist of measurement of the heads hi and hg at hwo chosen ‘ime intervals 1 and (2. The averages of ume intervals are taken for calculations.‘eoservation sneet ror taning neaa permeaonity test cr) oF fennpe 2 Loam mae = Sear s oe we 2 ketone Sree sees eee ag ie. wo oat ss Permeability of Stratified Soils: Wher aso profile consists ofa number of strata having diferent permeable equivalent or average petmeniliy of he soli diferent in rection paralel to and normal, the stat, Fr lowe pailel to layers the hase gradient in ach Iyer isthe samme andthe otal ve rat the sur ffl ates inal he thre layers. ‘Where kx = Equivalent or average permeability in direction parallel tothe layers. For flow ‘orinal othe layers the flaw rate must be same in all layers for steady Now, and asthe flow area ‘8 is constant the flow velocity across layer i also the same tne stan ee« Seaohe reas ee Where ke = equivalent permeability for fow normal tothe layers. So the equivalent permeability for flow parallel to the strate is always grester than tha for flor normal to dhe strata Le, Ke is always greater than Kz ‘Solved Example: Example 4.1: ‘ma falling head permeability teston a specimen 6 em high and 50 em2 in erossseetonal area, the water level in the stand pipe, 0. cm in sectional area, dropped from a height of 60cm 0 20 cm in 3m 20 sees, Find the permeability etton Gran A= sDen? Lon ocr? Sram » k= 22tbone «2368 = 2th ser esteme [egy =o Ame, Example 4.2: During a constant head permeameter test, flow Q of 160 cm” Is measured nS mins under a const, head of 15cm. The specimen is 6 em long and hasa sectional area of 50 «em2:The porosity nt of specimen is 42%, Determine the permeability the flow velocity V and seepage velocity Vs Estimate K2 for 12= 25%. Solution: Given Q = 160 em’ 1087 19% on vv atnn 4370109 «198 10° Ae ‘cama ate tome cnn tore we ote eo sof ed nea Son 3 Example 4.3: Asana deposits made up of three horizontal layers of equal tlekness, The permeabilityofthe top and bottom layers is 2 x10-4em(s and that of middle layer is 3.2 10-2 cm's. Find ‘he equivalent permeability in the horizontal and vertical direction and thelr ratio, Senter Hy =H, rie an totens Rise! no NI _ Beto chs 92 10 meat ten * Calculate the value of coefficient of permeability of sol with ther effective dia 0.5 mm, Solution: ‘We have Hazen’s correlation K = CD20 cvs © pio=05 mm K=? 0X (05)2ems = 0.25 emis Ans Example 45: Asoil sample was tested in a constant head permeameter. The diameter and length of the sample was 3 em and 15 em respectively. Under a head of 30 em, the discharge was found tobe 80 ccin 15 minutes, Ccateuiate: ( coetticient of permeability (G) Type of soil used in the test =a. gee Aw iy The value of K lies between 10-1 to 20-1. The soil consists of ine gravel coarse, medium and fine sands. Example 4: Asoll sample 5 em in length and 60 em in cross-setional area, water percultes through, ‘the sample in 10 minutes is 480 ml under a constant head of 40cm. Weight of oven driedcaleulat: (coetticent of permeability (i Seepage velocity. 1 Daou ae, watig 120108 See ey ° wae Beaty states Pag tere in weet EXAMPLE 47: ‘The coefficient of permeability ofa soil sample in found to be 110-3 cms ata void ratio. of0.4. Fstimate its permeability at a void ratio of 0.6. Solution: We know tat: Kaea/ te 220 5020591028 Am Example 48: during a permeability test on a sol sample with falling head permeameter, equal ime Intervals are noted for drops of head from hl and h2 and again from hi to 2, find a relationship between ht, hz and ha. Solution: For falling head from h and he <2athien (2) “ Fesieosetionnens Kan thse) “ Fentban i woos smn) ato) 3) mul)ns onc, copie: Age ed St