Relationship between Void Ratio and Hydraulic Conductivity for

Ottawa Sand
J.D.R. Skovira
Bucknell University, Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, USA (jdrs001@bucknell.com)

ABSTRACT The empirical relationship between void ratio, e, and hydraulic conductivity, k, for Ottawa
sand was investigated. Hydraulic conductivity of three samples of Ottawa sand, each with a different void
ratio, were measured and compared. Results show that hydraulic conductivity of Ottawa sand increases as
the void ratio increases. This relationship between void ratio and hydraulic conductivity was found to be best
represented by the Kozeny-Carmen equation, which is a known empirical relationship between these two soil
properties. The findings proved that for a known void ratio, the hydraulic conductivity of Ottawa sand can
be calculated using an empirical relationship.

INTRODUCTION hydraulic conductivity of the finer sand particles.

Ottawa sand, as well as other clean, uniformly
graded sands, are commonly used as filter media
in the treatment of drinking water and wastewater.
The design and performance of these water filters
varies depending on the hydraulic conductivity of
the sand. In most sands, hydraulic conductivity is
controlled by the uniformity of the sand and the
void ratio of the sand (Mihelcic & Zimmerman
2010).
In the design of filters used for treatment of
drinking water and wastewater, the soil pore size
of the filter media is related to saturated hydraulic
conductivity, which is used to determine
appropriate filter loading rates (Kuns & Tyler
2000). In rapid sand filters, used to treat drinking
water, uniformly graded sands, such as Ottawa
sand are preferred to well graded sands. When
well graded sands are used in rapid filters, the
variation in grain size results in stratification of
the sand filter media when the filters are
backwashed. With the larger particles settling to
the bottom of the filter and smaller particles
accumulating at the top of the filter bed, head loss
in the filter will increase due to the lower
This will then result in lower filtration rates
(Mihelcic & Zimmerman 2010). This same
problem can occur in septic systems used to treat
wastewater. In order to prevent the lowering of
filter loading rates, uniform sands including
Ottawa sand are used because they are able to
resist stratification and maintain their hydraulic
conductivity.
The ability to compute the hydraulic conductivity
of a sand is convenient because uniformly graded,
clean sands are so commonly used in filters.
Hydraulic conductivity can then be used in
determining a filter loading rate. Therefore, the
objective of this study was to perform
permeameter tests and determine an empirical
relationship between void ratio and hydraulic
conductivity for Ottawa sand.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Materials
The empirical relationship between the void ratio
and the hydraulic conductivity for a clean sand
was determined by conducting several constant-

1
head permeability tests. The clean sand tested was
Ottawa sand that is light tan in color, angular,
completely dry, and poorly graded with a specific
gravity of 2.65. A diagram of the laboratory set up
for the tests is shown in Figure 1.
Fig.1 Schematic of the lab set up of the constant-head
permeability test used to determine the empirical
relationship between void ratio and hydraulic
conductivity for a clean sand.
As can be seen in the diagram, the lab set up
requires flexible plastic tubing, a soil specimen
vessel with a porous stone filter, and a pinch cock
for the plastic tubing. In order to determine the
empirical relationship between void ratio and
hydraulic conductivity, constant-head permeability
tests were conducted first on only the porous stone
and then on three different samples of clean sand,
each with a different void ratio. Three constant-
head permeability tests were performed on each
sand sample to result in nine total tests.
Testing of the Porous Stone
Because the specimen vessel has a porous stone
filter at the base, the calculated hydraulic
conductivity from the constant-head tests was
actually the equivalent hydraulic conductivity of
the sand sample and the porous stone combined.
In order to account for the hydraulic conductivity
of the porous stone, three constant-head tests were
performed on only the stone. For these tests, the
pinch cock on the outlet tube of the specimen
vessel was closed and the vessel was filled with
2
water until water began to flow out of the
overflow port. The pinch cock was opened and
water was poured into the top of the vessel to
maintain a constant head. The outflow water was
collected in a graduated cylinder. After about
thirty seconds, the pinch cock was closed and the
volume of outflow water was recorded. This test
was performed two more times for a total of three
constant head tests on the porous stone.
Ottawa Sand Sample
Preparation and Testing
In order to attain the different void ratios in the
Ottawa sand, the sand was either compacted or
uplifted by backwashing water through the
specimen. The first sample was not mixed or
uplifted, but simply poured into the specimen
vessel. The second sample was poured into the
specimen vessel and water was then backwashed
through the outflow port of the specimen vessel in
order to attain a high void ratio. The third sample
was compacted in the specimen vessel with nine
lifts and twenty five compaction blows per lift.
When compacting each lift, the lift was added and
the compaction tool was inserted into the
specimen vessel, then water was poured into the
vessel to saturate the lift, and the lift was
compacted. Water was allowed to drain out of the
outflow port of the specimen vessel during
compaction. After the preparation of each of the
three Ottawa sand samples, the length of the soil
specimen, L, and the cross sectional area, A, of the
specimen vessel was used to determine the total
volume of the specimen, VT (i.e., VT = L x A). The
volume of sand in the specimen, Vs, was found
using the mass of the sand specimen, M, the
specific gravity of the sand, Gs, and the density of
water, ρw, (i.e., Vs =M /(Gs x ρw)). The volume of
voids in the specimen, Vv, was then calculated
(i.e., Vv = VT -Vs). The void ratio, e, was then found
(i.e., e = Vv /Vs). These soil sample properties are
shown in Table 1.
For each constant-head permeability test, the soil
column was completely saturated before
performing the test, and the specimen vessel was
filled until the water surface reached the outflow
port. The pinch cock was then opened and the conductivity of the stone was determined to be
outflow of water was collected in a graduated 0.001 cm/s. This value was then used in the
cylinder. After about one minute had passed, the calculations to determine the hydraulic
pinch cock was closed and the volume of outflow conductivity of the three sand specimens.
water was recorded. This test was performed three
times for each of the tree samples of Ottawa sand. TABLE 2 Summary of constant head test data for only
the porous stone.
TABLE 1 Summary of soil properties used to calculate Test 1 Test 2 Test 3
void ratio in each of the three samples.
A (cm2) 32.2 32.2 32.2
Sample 1 Sample 2 Sample 3
2
L (cm) 0.635 0.635 0.635
A (cm ) 32.2 32.2 32.2
M (g) 457.36 500.02 500.02 H (cm) 33.5 33.5 33.5
L (cm) 8.20 9.60 8.8 V (ml) 540 510 535
Vt (ml) 263.79 308.83 283.10 t (s) 30.5 31.3 31.7
kst (cm/s) 0.0104 0.0096 0.0099
Vs (ml) 172.59 188.69 188.69
kst avg = 0.0010 cm/s
Vv (ml) 91.20 120.14 94.41
e() 0.53 0.64 0.50 Hydraulic Conductivity and Void Ratio
Of the Ottawa Sand
The data from each test was then used to calculate The data from each of the constant head tests was
equivalent hydraulic conductivity of the sand and used to calculate equivalent hydraulic conductivity
the porous stone. The equivalent hydraulic of the Ottawa sand samples and the porous stone
conductivity and the hydraulic conductivity of the using Eq. 2.
porous stone were then used to find the hydraulic
conductivity of just the sand sample. V (Lst + L)
k eq= (2)
RESULTS AHt

Hydraulic Conductivity of the Porous Stone
The following equation was used to calculate the
hydraulic conductivity of the stone.
V Lst
k st= (1)
AHt
where kst is the hydraulic conductivity of the stone,
V is the volume of water, Lst is the length of the
porous stone, A is the cross sectional area of the
specimen vessel, H is the change in height, and t is
the change in time. The data from the constant
head tests used to calculate the hydraulic
conductivity of the stone are given in Table 2. A
value for hydraulic conductivity was calculated for
each of the three constant head tests. These three
values were then averaged and the hydraulic
where keq is the equivalent hydraulic conductivity
of the sand and the porous stone and L is the
length of the sand sample in the specimen vessel.
The hydraulic conductivity of just the sand sample
was then calculated using the following equation.
Lst + L
k eq=
k st k (3)
+
L st L
where k is the hydraulic conductivity of only the
sand sample. The data from the constant-head tests
of the Ottawa sand samples and the calculated
values for hydraulic conductivity are given in
Table 3.

3
The calculated values for hydraulic conductivity hydraulic conductivity as a function of void ratio.
obtained in each test were then used to determine A best fit curve was then fit to the data with
an empirical relationship between void ratio and consideration of the following equations.
hydraulic conductivity. This was done by plotting
TABLE 3 Summary of data from constant-head tests along with calculated values of hydraulic conductivity and void
ratios for the three samples of Ottawa sand.

Sample 1 Sample 2 Sample 3

Test 1 Test 2 Test 3 Test 1 Test 2 Test 3 Test 1 Test 2 Test 3
H(cm) 33.5 33.5 33.5 33.5 33.5 33.5 33.5 33.5 33.5
L (cm) 8.2 8.2 8.2 9.6 9.6 9.6 8.8 8.8 8.8
V (ml) 569 380 379 425 418 410 378 359 384
t (s) 90 62.4 62.6 61.1 61.1 60.7 61.2 61 65
keq (cm/s) 0.052 0.050 0.050 0.066 0.065 0.064 0.054 0.052 0.052
k (cm/s) 0.077 0.072 0.072 0.105 0.102 0.100 0.079 0.074 0.074
kavg = 0.074 cm/s kavg = 0.102 cm/s kavg = 0.076 cm/s
e = 0.53 e = 0.64 e = 0.50

e2
k =C e 2
(4) k =0.4195 (5)
1+ e
e2 e3
k =C (5) k =0.7182 (6)
1+ e 1+e
e3
k =C (6) 0.12
1+ e
hydraulic conductivity, k (cm/s)

E
In each of the preceding three equations, C is a q.
calculated empirical constant. Also Eq. 4-6 are 0.10 4
each known empirical relationships between
hydraulic conductivity and void ratio, with Eq. 6
being the Kozeny-Carmen equation (Das, 2009). 0.08
These equations were fit to the data using the
Regression Wizard under the Statistics menu in
SigmaPlot. A plot of the data and nonlinear
regressions can be found in Figure 2. 0.06
0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7

The non linear regression shown in Figure 2 void ratio, e ( )

resulted in the following empirical constants.
Fig.2 Plot of hydraulic conductivity versus void ratio
k =0.2655 e 2 (4) with nonlinear regressions for Ottawa sand.

4
The best fit curve was determined by using an R 2
value to evaluate the goodness of fit for each of
the nonlinear regressions. Equation 4, Eq. 5, and
Eq. 6 had R2 values of 0.78, 0.92, and 0.26
respectively; therefore, Eq. 5 was determined to
best represent the relationship between hydraulic
conductivity and void ratio for the Ottawa sand
tested.

5
CONCLUSIONS Mihelcic, James R., and Julie Beth Zimmerman
Based on the results of this study, Eq. 5 was (2010). Environmental Engineering:
determined to best describe the relationship Fundamentals, Sustainability, Design: 429-433.
between hydraulic conductivity and void ratio for
Ottawa sand. This relationship is of significance
because Ottawa sands and other clean, uniformly
graded sands are often used in filtration
applications for wastewater and drinking water.
The ability to approximate the hydraulic
conductivity of a clean, uniformly graded sand is
useful because hydraulic conductivity can then be
used to determine the filter loading rate for a given
application. Following is an equation that can be
used to calculate filter loading rate from hydraulic
conductivity.

loading rate=0.22(k ¿¿ sat)0.23 ¿ (7)

where ksat is the saturated hydraulic conductivity in
centimeters per hour for a given sand, and loading
rate is given in gallons per day per square foot
(Franzmeier 2002). Because this relationship is so
useful, additional testing is recommended. The
data obtained from the constant head tests proved
to be well represented by a known equation for
hydraulic conductivity as a function of void ratio;
however, the data points obtained did not include
a large range of void ratios and a larger sample
would more accurately represent this relationship
for Ottawa sand.

REFERENCES
Das, Braja M. (2009). Soil Mechanics Laboratory
Manual. 7th ed. 75.

Franzmeier, Don, Kelli Hart, Brad Lee, and Don

Jones (2002). "Rural Wastewater: Soil Hdraulic
Conductivity and Septic System Performance."
Purdue Extension: 3.

Kuns, Laura Kramer, and E. Jerry Tyler (2000).

"Designing with Soil: Development and Use of
a Wastewater Hydraulic Linear and Infiltration
Loading Rate Table." NOWRA 2000
Proceedings: 2-3.