Permeability

 Permeability is the measure of the soil’s

ability to permit water to flow through its
pores or voids.
 Due to the existence of the inter-connected
voids, soils are permeable
 Thepermeable soils will allow water flow
from points of high energy to points of low
energy
 Permeability is the parameter to
characterize the ability of soil to transport
water
 Importance of Permeability
 Itis one of the most important soil properties of interest to
geotechnical engineers
 Permeability influences the rate of settlement of a saturated soil
under load
 The design of earth dams is very much based upon the permeability
of the soils used
 The stability of slopes and retaining structures can be greatly
affected by the permeability of the soils involved.
 Estimating the quantity of underground seepage
 Bernoulli’s Equation
μ 𝑣2
According to ℎ = + +𝑍
γ𝑤 2𝑔
Where,
h= total head
μ= Pressure
v= velocity
g= gravitational acceleration
γ𝑤 = unit weight of water
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 Darcy’s Law
 In 1856, Henry Darcy a French engineer proposed a law related to the
rate of flow i.e. the discharge through the soil.

 According to him, discharge is directly proportional to the head loss (

h) and the area of the cross sectional of the soil, and inversely
proportional to the length of the soil sample
 Coefficient of Permeability
 Thecoefficient or permeability is also known as hydraulic
conductivity
 HydraulicConductivity, k, is a measure of soil
permeability
K is determined in the lab using two methods
 Constant-Head Test
 Falling-Head Test
 Factors Affecting Permeability
 The coefficient of permeability (k) is affected by several factors
given below:
 The porosity (η) of the soil and void ratio (e) of the soil.
 The grain size, shape and distribution
 The degree of saturation (S).
 Thedensity and viscosity of the soil water which vary with
temperature.
 Thickness of the adsorbed layers of water in fine-grained
 The type of flow i.e. laminar or turbulent
 Constant Head Permeability
• The constant head test is used primarily for coarse-grained soils
• This test is based on the assumption of laminar flow where k is
independent of i
• This test applies a constant head of water to each end of a soil
 Constant-head hydraulic
conductivity test with permeameter
Constant Head Permeability
Constant Head Permeability
 Activity for Students
 Falling-Head Test