Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

CIVL 3720 Soil Mechanics Lab 4 Constant Head and Falling Head Permeability Test
(Hydraulic Conductivity)

Experiment date

: 10th March, 2013

Report submission date : 24th April, 2013

Group Members Name CHAN, Yik Hin CHAU, Lai Bun CHAU, Man Kit CHONG, Sing Pui CHONG, Wai Ho CHOW, Jun Kang FUNG, Hoi Tai

SID 20035984 20029284 20031134 20031225 20029375 20020628 20030489

Contribution (%)

Signature

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Introduction Hydraulic conductivity, sometimes called the coefficient of permeability, k, is a proportionality constant to determine the flow velocity of water through soils. Darcys law governs the flow of water through soils (provided that the flow of water is laminar). He proposed that average flow velocity through soils is proportional to the gradient of the total head. Making use of the head measured, we are going to determine the permeability of the soil sample in this experiment. Objective To determine the permeability of a medium-coarse sand by the constant-head and falling-head method. Equipment 1. Constant head permeameter setup 2. Manometer 3. Stop Watch 4. Balance 5. Scoop 6. Funnel 7. Tamping Rod 8. Brush 9. Immersion Tank with overflow
Reservoir Tank
Permeameter

Inflow h1 h2

Overflow

Sample Manometer

50 mm 50 mm 100 mm

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Mariotte Bottle

Outflow

To sample

Soil sample To sink (keep From water tap constant head) To manometer

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Procedures Constant-head test 1. The internal diameter of the premeabmeter cylinder was measured. 2. A wire gauge was placed at the bottom of the premeabmeter cylinder. 3. The height from the top of the premeabmeter cylinder to the wire gauge was measured. 4. After the sample was prepared. The height between the top of the sample and the top of the premeabmeter cylinder was measured. 5. Place another wire gauge on the top of the sample and fix the top cover plate in the position. 6. Attach tube from the reservoir tank to inlet valve as shown in figure 1. 7. The height of reservoir tank was adjusted to a suitable level. 8. Start water supply and the inlet valve should be kept closed. 9. The flow rate was adjusted until a constant head is observed in the reservoir tank. 10. The sample was allowed to become saturated slowly by controlling the opening of the inlet valve and connect the manometer and discharge tubes as shown in the figure. 11. Wait for the system to reach the equilibrium. 12. The discharge and the manometer reading were measured, and the time for discharge and the temperature of the discharge were also noted. 13. Step 12 was repeated until at least 4 sets of data have been taken. Falling-head test 1. 2. 3. 4. The same sample as prepared by constant-head test was used. The manometer was filled with water and then close it Water height was measured inside the manometer At the some time, the manometer valve was opened and water was allowed to flow inside the sample, the initial clock time was also recorded. 5. Manometer valve was then closed, the elapsed time and height of the water inside manometer was also recorded. 6. Step 4 and 5 were repeated until several set of data had been taken. Sample Preparation 1. Approximately 1800g of soil was weighed 2. The soil was poured into the cylinder using scoop and funnel until the top of sample was about 25 30 mm below the top of the premeabmeter cylinder (the surrounding soil inside the premeabmeter cylinder was tamped if necessary) 3. The top of sample was finally leveled by brush.
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Data Processing and Discussion 1. Calculate soils permeability (hydraulic conductivity) based on the measured raw data from both methods. 2. Summarize the results in a table. 3. Discussions on the suitability of the two methods to different types of soils. Internal diameter of permeameter cell = 75.66 mm Cross sectional area of permeater cell = ( x 75.662)/4= 4495.96 mm2 Depth of permeameter cell filled with soil = 267.76 mm Weight of soil = 1800 g Temperatuer = 23C

Constant head method

In the test, water is allowed to flow through a cylindrical sample of soils under a constant head (h). Then the outflow Q is collected in a graduated flask at convenient duration (t). The total volume of water collected could be expressed as Q = A x v x t = A x (k x i) x t, where Q = volume of water collected A = area of cross section of the soil specimen t = duration of water collection i = hydraulic gradient = h/L h = difference in head between two selected points L = length/distance between two selected points k = permeability of the soil sample

By rearranging the equation, we could express k = QL/Aht Below is the data obtained: Set 1 2 3 Average Time, t (s) 89.57 60.13 59.09 69.65 Volume of outflow, Q (ml) 147 81 72 100
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Flow rate, q (cm3/s) 1.64 1.35 1.22 1.40

Manometer readings (Take the reading of pipe connected to highest position among the 3 pipes at permeameter cell as h1, followed by h2, and the pipe at lowest position as h3. Set 1 2 3 h1 (mm) 320 510 554 h2 (mm) 430 598 638 h3 (mm) 538 682 716

Distance between upper pipe and middle pipe = 5.1 cm Distance between middle pipe and bottom pipe= 5.1 cm

The value of k could be calculated by taking two sets of different head information. Permeability (cm s-1) Set 1 2 3 h1 & h2 0.0169 0.0174 0.0165 h1 & h3 0.0171 0.0178 0.0171 h2 & h3 0.0172 0.0196 0.0177 Average Hence, the permeability of the soil sample obtained is 0.01748 cm s . Falling head method The initial head difference h1, at time t = 0 is recorded, and water is allowed to flow through the soil specimen such that the final head difference at time t = t2 is h2. The rate of low of the water through the specimen at any time t can be given by = = Where q = flow rate a = cross-sectional area of the standpipe A = cross-sectional area of the soil specimen By rearranging the equation and performing integration it with appropriate limits, we could get the expression for k.
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Average 0.01707 0.01827 0.01710 0.01748

 ( ) 2 2 = 1 1 = = Below is the data obtained: Set 1 2 3 4 H1 (mm) 900 900 900 900 H2 (mm) 574 580 514 506 Time (s) 14.89 14.78 19.01 19.34 1 ln ( ) (2 1 ) 2

To determine cross-sectional area, a, of the manometer readings, volume and drop in head have been measured Set 1 2 H1 (mm) 850 850 H2 (mm) 286 279 Volume (ml) 44 45 Average Set 1 2 3 4 Average k (cm s-1) 0.0141 0.0139 0.0138 0.0139 0.01393 a (cm2) 0.7801 0.7881 0.7841

Hence, the permeability of the soil sample obtained is 0.01393 cm s-1. Discussion Suitability & characteristics of Constant-head Test & Falling-head Test The constant-head test is usually used for cohesiveless materials (coarse-grained soils) since a large amount of water is wasted into the overflow weir to control the constant head, so the duration must be short (in the order of few minutes). While for cohesive materials, falling-head test is used. The falling-head test is used for fine-grained soils because the flow of water through these soils is too slow to get reasonable measurements from the constant-head test. The falling-head test is suited
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for testing fine-grained soils where the k value is expected to be within the range of 105 to 108 cm s-1, or the soil that contains 10% or more particles passing the 75-m sieve. Therefore, the falling-head method is usually selected for testing mortar and concrete materials containing fine particles such as cement and silica fume. This method is independent of the hydraulic gradient, thus making valid the computation of k using Darcys law. However, there is one problem with using falling-head method to soil with high permeability like what we have done in our lab. This is because the water levels in the manometers are dropping too fast, causing a large error in taking time required for head dropping. Validity of Darcys Law: In both constant-head and falling-head tests, Darcys law is used to govern the flow velocity through the soils. It should be noted that Darcys law is valid only for laminar flow (Reynolds number less than 2000). Therefore, precautions should be given that flow is smooth and not too fast to cause any turbulence throughout the flow path. Factors to bias permeability measurement The reliability of the permeability test may be influenced by several factors. First, air bubbles may be trapped in the soil specimens if compaction is not done well. Hence, the degree of saturation could be less than 100%, which would affect the test results significantly. Besides, migration of fines in testing sands also affected the measured values as it may alter the internal structure of the soil samples. Temperature variations, especially in test of long duration, may affect the measurements too. Usually, correction has to be made to express the value of k at a temperature of 20C under the assumption that w does not vary too much with temperature, 20 = ( ) 20

For constant-head and falling-head test, the experimental values were 0.01748 cm s-1 and 0.01393 cm s-1 respectively. The temperature was recorded as constant at 23C. By making correction, the k20C for constant-head and falling-head test were 0.01627 cm s-1 and 0.01297 cm s-1 respectively.

Conclusion, in our lab, we obtained 0.01748 cm s-1 and 0.01393 cm s-1 for
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constant-head method and falling-head method respectively, which falls in the range of 1.0 cm/s to 10-3 cm/s. Therefore, both methods are quite suitable for finding the coefficient of permeability. And, with the correction made, k20C for constant-head and falling-head test were 0.01627 cm s-1 and 0.01297 cm s-1 respectively.

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