CE 111 – Geotechnical Engineering 1 (Soil Mechanics)

LABORATORY AND FIELD DETERMINATION OF COEFFICIENT OF PERMEABILITY

• Laboratory determination: Example Problems:

1. Constant Head Test
1. Refer to the constant-head permeability test arrangement
shown. A test gives these values:
• L = 30 cm
• A = area of the specimen = 177 cm2
• Constant-head difference, h = 50 cm
• Water collected in a period of 5 min = 350 cm3
Calculate the hydraulic conductivity in cm/sec.
2. For a falling-head permeability test, the following values are
given:
• Length of specimen = 200 mm.
• Area of soil specimen = 1000 mm2
• Area of standpipe = 40 mm2
• Head difference at time t = 0 = 500 mm.
• Head difference at time t = 180 sec = 300 mm.
Determine the hydraulic conductivity of the soil in cm/sec.
3. The results of a constant-head permeability test for a fine sand
sample having a diameter of 150 mm and a length of 300 mm
are as follows:
• Constant-head difference = 500 mm
Where: • Water collected in 5 min = 350 cm3
k –hydraulic conductivity • Void ratio of sand = 0.61
Determine:
Q – Volume of water collected
a. Hydraulic conductivity, k (cm/sec)
L – length of specimen
b. Seepage velocity
A – area of specimen
4. In a constant-head permeability test, the length of the specimen
h – head
is 150 mm and the cross-sectional area is 3167 mm2. If k =
t – time 0.062 cm/sec and a rate of flow of 160 cm3/min has to be
maintained during the test, what should be the head difference
2. Falling Head Test across the specimen? Also, determine the discharge velocity
under the test conditions.
5. The following data are for a falling-head permeability test:
• Length of the soil sample = 150 mm
• Area of the soil sample = 1964 mm2
• Area of the standpipe = 25 mm2
• At time t = 0, head difference = 400 mm
• At time t = 8 min, head difference = 200 mm
Determine the:
a. hydraulic conductivity of the soil (cm/sec)
b. head difference at t = 6 min

• Field determination:
1. Well in an unconfined permeable layer underlain by
an impermeable stratum

𝒂𝑳 𝒉𝟏
𝒌= 𝐥𝐧 ( )
𝑨𝒕 𝒉𝟐

Where:
k –hydraulic conductivity
a – area of standpipe
L – length of specimen
A – area of specimen
t – time (t1 – t2)
h1 – head difference at t1
h2 – head difference at t2 𝒓
𝑸𝒍𝒏 ( 𝟏 )
𝒓𝟐
𝒌=
𝝅(𝒉𝟏 − 𝒉𝟐𝟐 )
𝟐
 b. Transmissivity in cm2/sec if the thickness of the aquifer is
20m.
2. Well in a confined aquifer underlain by an c. Drawdown in the test well.
impermeable stratum 9. A 300mm diameter test well penetrates 27m below the static
water table. After 24 hours of pumping at 69 liters per second,
the water level in an observation well at a distance of 95m from
the test well is lowered 0.50m and the other observation well at
a distance of 35m from the test well, the drawdown is 1.1m.
What is the:
a. Flow rate in m3/day
b. Coefficient of permeability
c. Transmissibility
10. A well with a diameter of 0.60m is constructed in a confined
aquifer. The sand aquifer has a uniform thickness of 15m
overlain by an impermeable layer with a depth of 35m. A
pumping test was conducted to determine the coefficient of
permeability of the aquifer. The initial piezometric surface was
15m below the ground surface datum of the test well and
𝒓
𝑸 𝐥𝐧 ( 𝟏 ) observation wells. After water was pumped at a rate of 13 liters
𝒓𝟐 per second for several days, water levels in the wells stabilized
𝒌=
𝟐𝝅𝒕(𝒉𝟏 − 𝒉𝟐 ) with the following drawdowns, 6.4m in the test well, 3.7m in the
observation well 10m from the test well and 2.4m in the second
Transmissivity or Transmissibility of Aquifer in a
observation well at a distance of 30m. From these data,
Pumping Test
𝒓 determine the:
𝑸𝒍𝒏 ( 𝟏 ) a. Depth of water in the test well
𝒓𝟐
𝑻= b. Permeability of the aquifer
𝟐𝝅(𝒛𝟐 − 𝒛𝟏 )
Where: c. Transmissibility of the impermeable layer
T = transmissivity
r1 = farthest distance from the center of test well
r2 = nearest distance of observation well from the
test well
z1 = drawdown of the farthest observation well
z2 = drawdown of the nearest observation well

Example Problems:

6. An aquifer of 20m average thickness is overlain by an

impermeable layer of 30m thickness. A test well 0.50m in
diameter and two observation wells at a distance of 10m and
60m from the test well are drilled through the aquifer. After
pumping 0.10m3/s for a long time, the following drawdowns are
stabilized in these wells. First observation well, 4m, second
observation well, 3m. Determine the:
a. Hydraulic conductivity
b. Drawdown in the test well
c. Time of travel of ground water from the observation well
at a distance of 60m to the pumped well if the porosity of
the aquifer is 0.30.
7. A permeability pumping test was carried out in a confined
aquifer with the piezometric level before pumping is 2.18m
below the ground surface. The aquiclude has a thickness of
5.70m measured from the ground surface and the confined
aquifer is 7.60m deep until it reaches the aquiclude at the
bottom. At a steady pumping rate of 15.60m3/hr, the drawdown
in the observation wells were respectively equal to 1.62m and
0.47m. The distances of the observation wells from the center
of the test well were 15m and 32m respectively. Compute the:
a. Depth of water at the farthest observation well
b. Coefficient of permeability
c. Transmissibility
8. A well is constructed to pump water from a confined aquifer.
Two observation wells are constructed at distances of 100m
and 1000m respectively. Water is pumped from the pumping
well at a rate of 0.2m3/min. At a steady state, the drawdown is
observed as 2m and 8m respectively in the farthest and nearest
observation wells. The diameter of the test well is 1m. Engr. Frances Angelique U. Cereno
Determine the: Instructor 1
a. Hydraulic conductivity in cm/sec