THE UNIVERSITY OF TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO

PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND CIVIL INFRASTRUCTURE SYSTEMS UNIT

San Fernando Campus

MODULE 2:
PERMEABILITY

Lecturer: Damian V. A. Alexander, BSc (UWI), MSc (University of Dundee) A.M.ASCE

Email: damian.alexander@utt.edu.tt
LEARNING OUTCOMES
1) Soil permeability, hydraulic gradient and flow through soils.
2) Constant head- and falling head- permeability laboratory
testing.
3) Field pumping out test.
4) Simple flow net for single sheet pile cofferdam.
5) Two-dimensional flow nets to estimate seepage, hydraulic
gradients and pore water pressure.
1) Simple flow net for single sheet pile cofferdam.
6) Piping failure
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SUBSURFACE WATER
Subsurface water can be split into two distinct
zones: saturation zone and aeration zone.

Sometimes referred to as the vadose zone,

this zone occurs between the water table
and the surface,
and can be split into three sections

This is the depth throughout which all the

fissures and voids are filled with water
under hydrostatic pressure.
The upper level of this water is known as
the water table, phreatic surface or
groundwater level, and
water within this zone is called phreatic
water or groundwater. 3
FLOW OF WATER THROUGH
SOILS
• The voids of a soil (and of most rocks) are connected and form continuous
passageways for the movement of water brought about by rainfall infiltration,
transpiration of plants, unbalance of chemical energy, variation of intensity of
dissolved salts, etc.
• When rainfall falls on the soil surface, some of the water infiltrates the surface
and percolates downward through the soil. This downward flow results from a
gravitational force acting on the water. During flow, some of the water is held in
the voids in the aeration zone and the remainder reaches the groundwater table
and the saturation zone. In the aeration zone, flow is said to be unsaturated.
Below the water table, flow is said to be saturated.

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Piping Failure

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