PERMEABILITY AND SEEPAGE

PERMEABILITY OF SOIL
Permeability is a measure of how easily a fluid can flow through a porous medium.
In geotechnical engineering, the porous medium is soils and the fluid is water at
ambient temperature.
Generally, the coarser soil grains, the larger the voids and larger the permeability.
Therefore, gravels are more permeable than silts. Hydraulic conductivity is another
term used for permeability, often in environmental engineering.
 All materials such as rocks, concrete, soils etc. are permeable, and they obey
almost the same laws of permeability. A material is permeable if it contains
continuous voids /pores between the soil particles.
 Seepage should not be confused with permeability as seepage entails the process
of fluid movement through that material while permeability is the property of a
material
 A good example is when a material is highly permeable, the seepage of water is
very easy.
 PERMEABILITY AND SEEPAGE
Bernoulli’s is a principle used to understand and analyse the unsteady
fluid flow.
 Bernoulli’s equation, the total head at a point in water under motion can
be given by the sum of the pressure, velocity, and elevation heads.
 PERMEABILITY AND SEEPAGE
 Elevation head, Z is the vertical distance of a given point above or below a
datum plane.
The pressure head is the water pressure, , at that point divided by the unit
weight of water, .

 If Bernoulli’s equation is applied to the flow of water through a porous soil

medium, the term containing the velocity head can be neglected because
the seepage velocity is small mostly when squared.
 The figure below shows the relationship among the pressure, elevation,
and total heads for the flow of water through soil.
 The piezometers known as open standpipes are installed at two points A
and B.
 The levels to which water rises in the piezometer tubes situated at points A and B are
known as the piezo-metric levels of points A and B, respectively.
 The pressure head at a point is the height of the vertical column of water in the
piezometer installed at that point.
The loss of head between two points, A and B, can be given by

This happens when water flows through soils, from upstream to downstream, due to difference in water
level some energy is lost in overcoming the resistance provided by the soils.
The head loss, h, can be expressed in a non-dimensional form as hydraulic gradient.

Hydraulic gradient is the total head loss per unit length. This can be constant in a
homogenous soil but varies if the soil is heterogeneous.
An empirical formula was derived to show the behaviour of flow through
saturated soils using Darcy’s Law.

 A is the cross-sectional area of soil normal to the direction of flow which

includes the area of the solids and the voids.
 The hydraulic conductivity, k is a measure of the ease with which water flows
through permeable materials. It is inversely proportional to the viscosity of
water which decreases with increasing temperature.
 The hydraulic conductivity of soil depends upon:

a) fluid viscosity b)pore-size distribution

c)grain-size distribution d)void ratio,
e)roughness of mineral particles f)degree of soil saturation.
NOTE: The coefficient of permeability depends primarily on the average
size of the pores, which in turn is related to the distribution of particle
sizes, particle shape and soil structure.
• In general, the smaller the particles the smaller is the average size of
the pores and the lower is the coefficient of permeability.
• For a given soil the coefficient of permeability is a function of void
ratio.
• The coefficient of permeability also varies with temperature, upon
which the viscosity of the water depends. Examples temperature
values of 100c and 00c the values of k are expected to be 77 and 56%
METHODS OF DETERMINATION OF HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY OF SOILS
Methods that are in common use for determining the coefficient of permeability k can be
classified under laboratory and field methods.
1. Laboratory methods
a)Constant head permeability test
b)Falling head permeability test
2. Field methods
a)Pumping tests
b)Borehole tests (packer method)
3. Indirect methods
Empirical correlations
 The various types of apparatus which are used in soil laboratories for
determining the permeability of soils are called permeameters.
 The soil samples used in laboratory methods are either undisturbed or
disturbed.
1. Laboratory methods
a)Constant head permeability test
 It is used to determine the coefficient of permeability for coarse soils such
as gravelly sand and coarse and medium sand having values of (k) above
10-4 m/s.
 The apparatus used for the constant head permeability test is called a
constant head permeameter.
 The permeameter consists of a cylinder 100 mm in diameter and 300 mm
long.
a)Constant head permeability test
In this type of laboratory setup, the water supply at the inlet is adjusted in
such a way that the difference of head between the inlet and the outlet
remains constant during the test period.
 A test is performed by allowing water to flow through the sample and
measuring the quantity of discharge Q in time t.
 The difference of level h in the two manometer tubes is recorded at the
same time. The flow rate is then varied and the procedure repeated.
 Several tests at varying flow rates and heads should be carried out and
the average value of (k) established.

[Link]
For further demonstration please watch the video.
a)Constant head permeability test

The main relations to be used are:

Where:
Example
During a test using a constant-head permeameter, the following data were
collected. Determine the average value of (k).
Diameter of sample: D = 100 mm
Distance between manometers tapping points: L = 150 mm

Quantity collected in 2 541 503 509 474

min (ml)
Difference in manometer 76 72 68 65
levels (mm)

Cross-sectional area of sample

With (Q) expressed in (ml) and h in (mm) the permeability in (mm/s) is
given by;
Example

Now Tabulate results.

Q(ml) 541 503 509 474

h(mm) 76 72 68 65

K=0.159Q/h(mm/s) 1.13 1.11 1.19 1.16

Average: k=1.15mm/s
b) Falling head permeability test
The falling head test is used to determine the coefficient of permeability (k) of fine
soils, such as fine sands, silts and clays.
 For these soils, the rate of flow of water through them is too small to enable accurate
measurements using the constant head permeameter.
 An undisturbed soil sample is obtained in a 100 mm diameter cylinder known as U4.
 Before the commencement of the test the soil sample is saturated by allowing the
water to flow continuously through the sample from the stand pipe.
 After saturation is complete, the stand pipe is filled with water up to a height of h0
and a stop watch is started.
 Let the initial time be t . The time t when the water drops from h to h in the
0 1 0 1
standpipe is recorded.
 The set up is suitable for soils having permeability ranging from 10 -3 to 10-6 cm
per sec.

[Link]
For further demonstration please watch the video.
 b) Falling head permeability test
 b) Falling head permeability test
 b) Falling head permeability test
Example 2
Standpipe diameter: d = 3mm
Diameter of sample: D = 100 mm
Sample height: L = 100 mm

Time after start (s) T0=0 15 30 49 70 96

Water level in tube h0 1000 900 800 700 600 500

(mm)
Example 2

Time t1-t0(s) 15 30 49 70 96

Ln(h0/h1) 0.105 0.223 0.357 0.511 0.693

L/(t1-t0) (mm/s) 6.667 3.333 2.041 1.428 1.042

K (mm/s) 6.30x10-4 6.69x10-4 6.56x10-4 6.57x10-4 6.50x10-4

Average k (mm/s) 6.52x10-4

2) Field Test
Laboratory tests for permeability are not fully reliable due to sample disturbance
and also to the fact that small samples are not representative of the whole
substratum, which is generally not homogeneous and not isotropic.
Pumping test in the field is mostly used to determine the permeability of coarse
grained material deposits below the water table .
 The arrangement consists of a test well and a series of observation wells. The
test well is sunk through the permeable stratum up to the impermeable layer.
 A well sunk into a water bearing stratum known as aquifer, and tapping free
flowing ground water having a free ground water table under atmospheric
pressure, is termed a gravity or unconfined well.
 A well sunk into an aquifer where the ground water flow is confined between two
impermeable soil layers, and is under pressure greater than atmospheric, is
termed as artesian or confined well.
 The test consists of pumping out water continuously at a uniform rate from the
test well until the water levels in the test and observation wells remain
stationary.
 Further calculations and more methods will be discussed in soil mechanics module.
2) Field Test
unconfined well
 SEEPAGE
The interaction between soils and percolating water has an
important influence on:
1 . The design of foundations and earth slopes.
2. The quantity of water that will be lost by percolation through a dam or
its subsoil.
 Seepage force or pressure is the pressure that is exerted on the soil due
to the seepage of water.
 Most of Foundation failures occurs due to piping. Piping is a phenomenon
by which the soil on the downstream sides of some hydraulic structures
get lifted up due to excess pressure of water. Leading to the erosion of
soil, and weakening of the structure.
SEEPAGE
 PERMEABILITY AND SEEPAGE
 Flow of water through soils is called seepage.
 Seepage takes place when there is difference in water levels on the two
sides of the structure such as a dam or a sheet pile see the figure below
a) a concrete dam b) sheet pile
 The figure a and b above shows there is a seepage; whenever there is a
seepage whether on a dam or sheet pile, then it’s very necessary to
calculate the quantity of seepage and permeability.
 Sheet piles are interlocking walls, made of steel, timber or concrete
segments. They are used water front structures and cofferdams
(temporary structure made of interlocking sheet piles, making up an
impermeable wall surrounding an area, often for construction works.
 The computation of seepage loss under or through a dam, the uplift
pressures caused by the water on the base of a concrete dam and the
effect of seepage on the stability of earth slopes can be studied by
constructing flow nets.
 SEEPAGE
Water table/phreatic surface; The pressure of the pore water is measured
relative to atmospheric pressure and the level at which the pressure is
atmospheric (i.e. zero).
 A perched water table can occur locally, contained by soil of low
permeability, above the normal water table level.
 The level of the water table changes according to climatic conditions but
the level can change also as a consequence of constructional operations.
 The flow of water through soil is not in one direction only, not uniform
over the entire area perpendicular to the flow.
 With the explanation above, therefore water is calculated using the flow
nets, where the concept of flow net is based on “Laplace’s equation of
continuity”.
A flow net for an isometric medium is a network of flow lines and
equipotential lines intersecting at right angles to each other.
Each drop of water that goes through the soil follows a flow line or stream
line.
Along the discontinuous lines the total head is constant known as
equipotential lines.
Using equipotential lines at equal spaces means that the total head lost
between any pair of adjacent lines is the same (because the hydraulic
gradient is constant).
Flow lines and equipotential lines intersect at right angles, meaning the
direction of flow is perpendicular to the equipotential lines.
From a flow net, three(3) very useful items of information can be
determined:
a) Rate of flow.
b) Water pressure.
c) Gradient.

a)Determination of the rate of flow(q)

The rate of flow per unit thickness through square A is
Using square shapes for the flow net units:

This flow rate per unit thickness occurs for the entire
channel containing square A (as a consequence of the
principle of continuity).
Total flow per unit thickness
per m thickness

b)Determination of the pore water pressure

Assume a 3m elevation
c)Determination of the hydraulic gradient
For any square:
Flow-net for 2D flow
 Flow-net for 2D flow
Square A is bounded by the same flow lines as square A1 and by the same
equipotential as the square A2. Hence

It is possible to draw the flow net using square areas so that

This shows that, in a flow-net, when all areas are squares, there is the
same quantity of unit flow through each area and same head drop across
each square.
Generally, a number of channels around 5 or 6 is satisfactory and the
results are within the range of accuracy.