NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF

TECHNOLOGY AGARTALA
NAME –RAKESH KUMAR
REG N.-16UCE087
DEPT-CIVIL ENGINEERING
 PERMEABILITY OF SOIL
What is permeability ?

• Property of soil which permits the flow of water

• Permeability is defined as the property of a porous material which
permits passage or seepage of water through its interconnecting
voids.
• It is very important Engineering property
• gravel highly permeable
• stiff clay least permeable
Permeability through soil is important for the
following engineering problems:

• Calculation of uplift pressure under hydraulic structure and their safety against piping
• Ground water flow towards wells and drainage of soil
• Calculation of seepage through the body of earth dams and stability of slopes
• Determination of rate of settlement of a saturated compressible soil layer
 Flow of water through soils may either be a laminar flow
or a turbulent flow

Each fluid particle travel along a definite path which never cross the path of any other particle

Paths are irregular and twisting ,across at random

Relative permeability is the ratio of effective
permeability of a particular fluids to its absolute permeability.

Coefficient of permeability
Depends not only on the
property of soil but also on the
property of water
Absolute permeability
• Independent of the property of
water
• It depends only on the
characteristics of soil
• The absolute permeability only
depends upon on the geometry
of the pore-channel system.
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Limitation of Darcy’s Law
• Flow should fulfil continuity condition.
• The flow should be steady state laminar and one dimensional.
• Soil should be completely saturated.
• No volume change should occur during or as a result of flow.
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. By Indirect Method
Factor Affecting Permeability
• Grain size : If the void ratio is same then permeability is more in coarse soil than in the fine
soil.
• Void ratio : Coefficient of permeability is directly proportional to void ratio.
• Particle shape : Coefficient of permeability is inversely proportional to the shape of particles ,
The angular particles have greater specific surface than the round particles .
• Degree of Saturation :
• Entrapped air and gasses
• Viscosity
• Impurities
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THANK ,YOU