GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING MODULES

Notes and Formulas

PERMEABILITY
 FALLING HEAD TEST
It is the property of a porous material which permits the
passage or seepage of water through its interconnecting The test method covers the determination of the
voids. coefficient of permeability by a falling head method
for the laminar flow of water through fine-grained
soils.

DARCY’S LAW

This law states that there is a linear relationship between

the flow velocity (v) and the hydraulic gradient (i) for any
given saturated soil under steady laminar flow.
( )

EFFECTIVE EQUIVALENT HYDRAULIC

CONDUCTIVITY
HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY
(FOR STRATIFIED SOILS)
(COEFFICIENT OF PERMEABILITY, )
 FLOW IN HORIZONTAL DIRECTION
It is an engineering property of soils and is a function of
the soil type. Its value depends on the average size of
the pores and is related to the distribution of particle
sizes, particle shape, and soil structure.

LABORATORY DETERMINATION OF HYDRAULIC

CONDUCTIVITY

 CONSTANT HEAD TEST

This test method covers the determination of the

( )
coefficient of permeability by a constant head
method for the laminar flow of water through coarse-
grained soils.  FLOW IN VERTICAL DIRECTION

1
 GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING MODULES
Notes and Formulas

FIELD DETERMINATION OF HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY

 UNCONFINED AQUIFER

1. Determine the rate of flow of water through the

aquifer, in m3/day. (16,666.67 m3/day)
2. Determine the seepage velocity. (0.67 m/day)
( ) 3. Determine the time of travel from the head of the
[( ) ( ) ] aquifer to a point 3.30 km downstream. (4,949.75 days)

Situation #2 :

 CONFINED AQUIFER For a normally consolidated clay soil, the following

values are given:

Void Ratio K (cm/sec)

-7
1.10 0.302x10

0.90 0.12x10-7

1. Compute for the value of n. (5.1)

2. Compute for the value of C3. (0.39x10-7)
3. Compute the hydraulics conductivity of the clay at a
void ratio of 0.75. (0.514x10-8 cm/s)
( ) Situation #3:
[( ) ( )]
For a constant laboratory permeability test on a fine
EMPIRICAL FORMULA FOR HYDRAULIC sand, the following data are given:
CONDUCTIVITY
Length of Specimen: 16 cm
 Hazen (1930) Diameter of Specimen: 9.6 cm
Constant Head Difference: 50 cm
( ) Volume of water collected in 4 min: 420 cc
Void ratio of the soil specimen: 0.55
 Kozeny-Carman (1927,1956)
1. Determine the coefficient of permeability k of the soil
-4
in cm/sec. (7.74x10 cm/s)
( ) 2. Determine the discharge velocity in cm/sec. (0.024 cm/s)

3. Determine the seepage velocity in cm/sec. (0.068 cm/s)

 Samarasinghe (1982)
Situation #4 :
( )
A 5.4 m thick soil consists of three different layers as
Situation # 1: follows:

A confined aquifer is shown in the figure. The aquifer Layer 1: H1 = 1.7 m, k1 = 4.5 m/day
has a hydraulic conductivity of 40 m/day and a porosity Layer 2: H2 = 2.4 m, k2 = 3.5 m/day
of 0.25 m. The piezometric heads in the two observation Layer 3: H3 = 1.3 m, k3 = 5.5 m/day
wells 1,200 m apart are 65 m and 60 m from a common
datum. The aquifer has an average width of 4 km. a. Determine the equivalent coefficient of permeability in
the horizontal direction. (4.296 m/day)
b. Determine the transmissivity of the soil. (23.2 m2/day)
c. Determine the seepage velocity (in mm/day) with a
hydraulic gradient of 0.004 and n = 0.33. (52.08 mm/day)
 GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING MODULES
Notes and Formulas
Situation #5:

A 2.0 km long, 60 m deep, unconfined aquifer with k =

25 m/s is between two bodies of water at depths 50 m
and 45 m, respectively.

1. Determine the rate of flow, per meter width of the

aquifer. (2.97 m3/s)
2. Find the time required for the water to pass through
the soil if it has a porosity of 0.25. (8000 seconds)

Situation #6 :

From the figure shown, an unconfined non homogenous

aquifer between two water bodies at a depth of 50 m and
45 m respectively. 1. What is the rate of flow of water through the sample?
(0.149 cm3/s)
2. What is the height of water in piezometer A? (656.3 mm)
3. What is the height of water in piezometer B? (652.3 mm)

SITUATION 9 :

A gravity well penetrates 15 meters below the static

water table. After 24 hours of pumping at a constant rate
of 52 L/s, the water table in two observation wells
located 25 m and 65 m, from the well showed
drawdowns of 1.5 m, and 0.8 m, respectively.

1. Determine the coefficient of permeability of the soil in

m/day. (70.47 m/day)
1. Compute the average coefficient of permeability of the 2. Determine the value of the transmissivity of the soil
aquifer. (23.478 m/s) layer in m2/day. (976.06 m2/day)
2. Compute the rate of flow. (3.098 m/s3)
3. Compute the time required for the water to pass
through the soil if it has a porosity of 0.24. (1.84 hrs)

Situation # 7 :

An unconfined aquifer underlies a confined aquifer as

shown in the figure:

1. Determine the equivalent coefficient of permeability

for flow in the horizontal direction. (36.47 m/day)
2. Determine the hydraulic gradient. (0.004)
3. Determine the rate of flow from one stream to another
per meter width. (7.44 m3/day)

Situation # 8:

Consider the setup shown in the figure in which three

different soil layers, each 200 mm in length, are located
inside a cylindrical tube of diameter 150 mm. A constant-
head difference

of 470 mm is maintained across the soil sample. The

hydraulic conductivities of the three soils in the direction
of the flow are as follows:
-3
Soil 1: k1 = 5.0 x 10 cm/s
Soil 2: k2 = 4.2 x 10-2 cm/s
Soil 3: k3 = 3.9 x 10-4 cm/s