Estimating the hydraulic conductivity using empirical formulae, field permeability and pumping tests

Abstract EN

A series of pumping, in addition to field permeability, test were conducted at four different sites, in Egypt, to determine the hydraulic conductivity of the water-bearing layer.

These values were used in designing the during- construction groundwater control facilities at the four sites.

In addition, at a series of laboratory tests, including grading analysis, for soil samples extracted during site investigation were performed.

In this paper, result of these pumping and field-permeability tests are used to check the applicability of the indirect methods relating soil permeability test to grading characteristics.

Confined, unconfined and mixed aquifer conditions are characterized based on field measurements.

Three different indirect methods are used, namely hazen (1948), shepherd (1989) and Elyamani and sen (1993).

Considering hydraulic conductivities extracted from pumping tests as reference values, it is found that it is more significant to estimate soil permeability using field technique rather than indirect methods.

If indirect methods are only available, such as for tender preparation purposes, Hazen formula can give a good estimate.