Soil Permeability and Seepage S

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Permeability (ability to permeate) I
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- is a measure of how easily a fluid can flow through a
porous medium.
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- E
In geotechnical engineering, the porous medium is soils
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and the fluid is water at ambient temperature. Generally, H
coarser the soil grains, larger the voids and larger the A
permeability. Therefore, gravels are more permeable than N
silts. I
C
- Hydraulic conductivity is another term used for S
permeability, often in environmental engineering
literature.

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Seepage (flow of water through soils) O
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• Seepage takes place when there is difference in L
water levels on the two sides of the structure such as a
dam or a sheet pile as shown in Fig. 1. M
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• Whenever there is seepage (e.g., beneath a concrete C
H
dam or a sheet pile), it is often necessary
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to estimate the quantity of the seepage, and N
permeability becomes the main parameter here I
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Figure 1. Seepage beneath (a) a concrete dam (b) a sheet pile

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• Sheet piles are interlocking walls, made of steel, timber or concrete O
segments. They are used water front structures and cofferdams I
(temporary structure made of interlocking sheet piles, making up an L
impermeable wall surrounding an area, often for construction works
as in Fig. 2.) M
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C
H
A
N
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C
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Figure 2. Cofferdam at Montgomery Point Lock, USA (Courtesy: U.S.Army Corps of Engineers 2004 )

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Figure 3. Total head at a point N
Bernoulli’s equation in fluid mechanics states that, for steady flow of I
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non-viscous incompressible flow, the total head at a point can be
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expressed as the summation of three independent components,
namely, pressure head, elevation head and velocity head. This is
shown in equation below.

Eq.1

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• where p is the pressure and v is the velocity at a point (P in Fig.3) I
within the region of flow. L

• The total head and three components in Eq. 1 have the units of M
length. E
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• The second component, elevation head, is measured with respect to H
A
an arbitrarily selected datum. It is simply the vertical distance above
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the horizontal datum line. I
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• If the point is below the datum, the elevation head is negative. S

• At point P (Fig.3), the pressure p in equation is hρwg, and therefore

the pressure head is h.

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FLOW THROUGH SOILS
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When water flows through soils, whether beneath a concrete dam or a L
sheet pile, the seepage velocity is often very small. It is even smaller
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when squared, and the third component in Eq.1 becomes negligible
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compared to the first two components. Therefore, Bernoulli’s equation C
for flow through soils becomes: H
A
N
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Eq.2 C
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When water flows through soils, from upstream to downstream, due O
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to difference in water level as in Fig.1, some energy is lost in
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overcoming the resistance provided by the soils. This loss of energy,
expressed as total head loss (hL), is simply the difference in water M
levels. The pressure p is the pore water pressure (u), and therefore E
pore water pressure at any point in the flow region can be written as: C
H
Eq.3 A
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In Fig.3, if h = 3 m, the pressure head and pore water pressure at P are
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3 m and 29.43 kPa respectively. S

Figure 4. Hydraulic gradient

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Hydraulic gradient is the total head loss per unit length. When water O
flows from point A to point B as shown in Fig. 4, the total head at A has I
to be greater than that at B. The average hydraulic gradient between A L
and B, is the total head lost between A and B divided by the length AB
M
along the flow path.
E
C
Eq.4 H
A
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The hydraulic gradient is a constant in a homogeneous soil, since it is a C
measure of the head loss per unit length. It is dimensionless. If the soil S
is not homogeneous, the hydraulic gradient can vary from point to
point.

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EXAMPLE 1
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A 900 mm long cylindrical soil sample, contained as shown in Fig. 5, is L
subjected to a steady state flow under constant head. Find the pore water
pressure at a point X. M
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Figure 5

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DARCY’S LAW O
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Table 1. Permeability and drainage characteristics of soils (Terzaghi et al. 1996)
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LABORATORY DETERMINATION OF PERMEABILITY O
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• Permeability of a coarse grained soil can be determined by a constant head L
permeability test (AS1289.6.7.1-2001; ASTM D2434), and in a fine grained
soil, falling head permeability test (AS1289.6.7.2-2001; ASTM D5856) works M
the best. E
• In a constant head permeability test (Fig.6), the total head loss (hL) across a C
cylindrical soil specimen of length L and cross sectional area A, is H
maintained constant throughout the test, and at steady state, the flow rate A
(Q) is measured. N
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C
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Figure 6 Constant head permeability test

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Why can’t we do constant head permeability test on fine grained O
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soils?
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Ans. It just takes quite a long time to collect a measurable quantity of
water to compute the flow rate. M
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A simplified schematic C
diagram for a falling head H
permeability setup is A
shown in Fig.7. The N
cylindrical soil specimen I
has cross sectional area C
of A and length L. The S
standpipe has internal
cross sectional area of a.

Figure 7

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By applying Darcy’s law, and equating the flow rate in the standpipe and the O
soil specimen, it can be shown that the permeability can be computed from I
equation below. L

M
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C
Here, t is the time taken for the water level in the standpipe to fall from H
h1 to h2. A
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Why can’t we do falling head permeability test on coarse grained soils? I
Ans. The flow rate is so high that water level will drop from h1 to h2 C
within a few seconds, not giving us enough time to take the S
measurements properly.

Permeability in the field can be measured through a “pump-in” or

“pump-out” test on a well or bore hole. Here, the flow rate to maintain
the water table at a specific height is measured and the permeability can
be computed using some analytical expressions found in textbooks.

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REFERENCES L
• http://www.swl.usace.army.mil M
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• Hazen, A. (1911). Discussion of “Dames on sand formation,” by A.C.
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Koenig. Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers, 73, 199- H
203. A
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• Terzaghi, K., Peck, R.B., and Mesri, G (1996). Soil Mechanics in
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Engineering Practice, 3rd Edition, John Wiley & Sons, New York. C
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