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Permeability of Stratified Soils for Flow Normal

to Bedding Plane

Article December 2015

DOI: 10.1016/j.aqpro.2015.02.085

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Aquatic Procedia 4 (2015) 660 667

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON WATER RESOURCES, COASTAL AND OCEAN

ENGINEERING (ICWRCOE 2015)

Permeability of stratified soils for flow normal to bedding plane

Javed Alam*a,Mohd Muzzammila, Himanshu P. Singha, Priyank Guptaa
a
Department of Civil Engineering, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh(202002), India

Abstract

Permeability of porous media is an important property which depends upon various properties of soil mass such as porosity, size
and shape of soil particles, initial moisture content and compaction etc. As in natural condition, the soil mass exists in layers/
strata, thus represents a stratified soil. The flow through stratified soil may be perpendicular, inclined or parallel to the bedding
plane. In this paper an attempt has been made to study the behavior of double layered stratified soil samples of equal thickness
subjected to a flow perpendicular to the bedding plane in terms of its permeability.
The materials used in the study were sand, fly ash, silt and clay. The observed values of permeability under several arrangements
of layers were determined. In all the considered arrangements, observed permeability was found to be less than the corresponding
theoretical values by 20 to 50 percent. A comparison was also made between the results obtained in the present study and that
available in literature, a good agreement has been observed. It was further noticed that if exit layer is less pervious than the top
layer, the observed permeability of the stratified soil has been found to be more as compared to the permeability of isolated exit
layer by 33% to 54%. If exit layer is more pervious than the top layer, the permeability of the stratified soil has been observed to
be less as compared to the isolated permeability of exit layer by 87 % to 100%.
2015
2015TheTheAuthors.
Authors.Published
Publishedbyby Elsevier
Elsevier B.V.B.V.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
Peer-review under responsibility of organizing committee of ICWRCOE 2015.
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Peer-review under responsibility of organizing committee of ICWRCOE 2015
Keywords:Permeability; Stratified soil; Porosity; Compaction.

*Corresponding author. Tel.: +91-983-716-9427.

E-mail address: javed_alig2000@yahoo.co.in.

2214-241X 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Peer-review under responsibility of organizing committee of ICWRCOE 2015
doi:10.1016/j.aqpro.2015.02.085
 Javed Alam et al. / Aquatic Procedia 4 (2015) 660 667 661

Nomenclature

Zi thickness of ith layer

ki permeability of ith layer
n number of layers
kth theoretical permeability of stratified soil
a area of stand pipe(cm2)
A cross-sectional area of sample (cm2)
L length of sample (cm)
t time (sec)
h1 initial head (cm)
h2 final head (cm)
k coefficient of permeability (cm/s)
k27 permeability at 27oC
T dynamic viscosity of water at test temperature
27 dynamic viscosity of water at 27oC temperature
kT permeability at test temperature

1. Introduction

Permeability of soil is an important property required for various civil engineering applications such as ground
water recharge, river bank filtration, seepage through the body of dam, slope stability problems,ground water flow,
etc. It is the capacity of a soil mass to allow the passage of flow of liquid through its interconnected voids. The
interconnected voids in turn depend upon the shape and size of particles. In natural conditions the passage of flow
may be parallel, inclined and vertical to the bedding plane. Each layer will have its own value of permeability (k)
depending upon the direction of flow. The observed value of coefficient of permeability of the stratified deposit
depends upon the direction of flow with respect to the orientation of bedding plane. The most simple and generally
observed phenomenon is when flow is perpendicular to the stratified deposit.
According to Darcy's law, the equivalent value of coefficient of permeability for stratified soil for flow perpendicular
to bedding plane is given by equation 1.

(1)

Prof A. Sridharan, Department of Civil Engineering, IISc, Bangalore has carried out a study in 2002(Sridharanet
al., 2002) on two layers of different soils of equal thickness subjected to a flow perpendicular to the bedding plane.
The soils used were sand flour, coarse kaolinite and black cotton soil. With these three soils, six two layer systems
were formed and subjected to flow perpendicular to bedding plane. Sridharan concluded that the mutual interaction
among different layers of different soil types forming a stratified deposit affects the equivalent permeability of
stratified deposit, which cannot be simply calculated by the use of the equation available in literature for the
equivalent coefficient of permeability of a stratified deposit. Though it is true that the Darcys law is valid for the
flow through the component layers forming the stratified deposit.
In the present study the behavior of two layer stratified soil composed from different non cohesive and cohesive
materials namely fly ash, sand, silt and clay subjected to flow normal to the orientation of bedding planes has been
presented.
662 Javed Alam et al. / Aquatic Procedia 4 (2015) 660 667

2. Experimental procedure

In the experimental work the required sediment samples i.e. sand, silt, fly ash and clay in appropriate amount
were collected. Sand was collected from Ganga river, whereas silt was taken from the nearby field in the university
campus and fly ash brought from NTPC Power plant, Dadri and clay used was bentonite. After proper sieving of
sediments in order to remove unnecessary large sediments or rubbish, considerable amount of sample were taken for
each type. All the sediment samples were kept in oven to dry for about 24 hours at 105 0C temperature (IS 2720:Part-
I 1983). All samples were subjected to particle size distribution analysis (IS 2720:Part-IV 1985).
Specific gravity of sediments was determined by using the density bottle for clay, silt and fly ash and pycnometer
for sand (IS 2720:Part-III 1980). Specific gravity for clay, sand, silt and fly ash were found to be 2.64, 2.60, 2.57
and 2.06 respectively. The specific gravity of fly ash was observed to be less than that of clay, sand and silt. The low
specific gravity of fly ash may be due to high proportion of cenospheres or hollow particles(Kaushik, S. K., Kumar,
A., 1998).
In order to achieve the aim of the present study, a Falling head permeameter was used to determine the value of
permeability of clay, fly-ash and silt and constant head permeameter was used for sand (Ranjan, G., Rao, A.S.R.,
2011) at a known porosity of 40%, which is generally achievable in most of the granular materials. In order to get a
porosity of 40%, the specific gravity of clay, fly-ash, sand and silt as well as the volume of the mould in which the
material is to be compacted, was determined(IS 1498-1970). By knowing the volume of mould and specific gravity
of the material, the mass required at 40% porosity to fill the mould was determined. Known mass of each material
was filled in the mould in three equal layers with required compactive effort and thus giving a test-bed having 40%
porosity. The test bed so prepared was completely saturated by passing water through it, and observations of
permeability were taken by noting the time of known fall in water surface in the permeameter standpipe using a
stopwatch having a least count of 0.2 seconds. The temperature was also recorded during the experimental work. In
this way the permeability of sand, clay, fly-ash, and silt were determined.
The eight combinations of equal thickness were made by using the above mentioned selected materials as shown
in figure 1. The mass required for each combination at 40% porosity was determined and filled in the mould in the
same manner as mentioned earlier. All samples undergo falling head permeameter test and coefficient of
permeability was determined by using equation 2. Coefficient of permeability (k) so determined at recorded
temperatures was used to compute the value of k at 27C by using equation 3.


(2)



(3)


Fig. 1. Eight Combinations of double layered soil samples

 Javed Alam et al. / Aquatic Procedia 4 (2015) 660 667 663

3. Results and Discussion

Table 1 shows the values of 'k' observed at 40% porosity for sand, silt, fly ash and clay used in the present study.
The values so observed were also converted to permeability at 27oC.

Table 1 Permeability's of sand, silt, fly ash and clay

Serial no. Sample k at 27C (cm/s)
1. Sand 7.236010-3
2. Silt 3.989810-5
3. Fly ash 5.769610-4
4. Clay 1.569010-6

Fig.2, 3, 4 and 5 shows the particle size distribution curve for materials used in the study. The grain size distribution
was determined using sieve analysis for particles larger than 75 and hydrometer analysis for particles less than
75(IS 2720:Part-IV 1985). From Fig.2 it can be seen that the predominant size of particles in fly ash are silt sized
(particle size between 0.600 mm to 0.0012 mm). Table 2 shows the physical and chemical properties of fly
ash(ASTM C 618-03).

Table 2Physical and chemical properties of fly ash

Physical properties Chemical properties

Constituent/Property Value Constituent Value(%)

Colour Grey Al2O3 27.0

Percent passing 75 sieve 76 % Fe2O3 4.50
Size of the particle 0.002-0.30mm CaO 1.80
Specific gravity 2.06 MgO 0.70
Plastic Limit Non-plastic SO3 0.10
SiO2 59.0

Silt is granular material of size somewhere between sand and clay whose mineral origin is quartz and feldspar.
Silt may occur as a soil or as suspended sediment (also known as suspended load) in a surface water body. It may
also exist as soil deposited at the bottom of a water body.
Table 3 showing observed and theoretical values of k for different arrangementsof layers, a perusal of Table
3reveals the following:
In both combination of sand and silt, it was observed that the value of permeability calculated based on Darcy's
law was having a deviation of -48% to -58% with respect to the observed values of k, whereas in combination of
sand and fly ash, it was observed that the value of permeability calculated based on Darcy's law was having a
deviation of -18% to -21 % with respect to the observed values of k.In case of silt - fly ash and sand - clay samples
the calculated value of k have a deviation of-25% to -49% and -30% to -50% respectively with respect to
theirobserved values of k.
A perusal of the above observations reveal that in all the cases the observed permeability is found to be less as
compared to the theoretical permeability. This may be due to the interface effect as the formula used for calculating
theoretical permeability does not include any factor to incorporate interface effect.
If top layer is more pervious than the bottom layer, the observed permeability of two layer system is more than
the isolated permeability of bottom layer, this happens because of extra pressure of water built up over the bottom
layer.
If top layer is less pervious than the bottom layer, the observed permeability of two layer system is less than the
isolated permeability of bottom layer, this probably happens because of non-availability of sufficient flow.
664 Javed Alam et al. / Aquatic Procedia 4 (2015) 660 667

Sridharan(2002) assumed that the value of permeability of the exit layer does not get altered due to the presence
of the inlet layer and he back calculated the individual permeability of the inlet layer from the equivalent coefficient
of permeability of the two layer system. On the other hand present study reveals that the permeability of both the
layer have their own significance and if there is any change in the inlet layer then permeability of the exit layer also
gets altered which finally changes the observed equivalent coefficient of permeability of the two layer system. As in
case of clay-sand sample when clay is at top and sand is at the bottom a suction is created by the sand sample which
results in a change in the permeability of clay due to which the equivalent permeability of layered sample comes out
to be more than the isolated permeability of clay. Similarly in case of sand-clay sample, sand is at top and clay is at
bottom, clay affects the isolated permeability of the sand because water passing through the sand did not find the
passage through clay layer. And therefore the equivalent permeability of the sand-clay sample is found out to be less
than the isolated permeability of sand and more than the isolated permeability of clay layer as sand layer being more
pervious provides extra head of water over bottom clay layer.
Fig.6 shows a log-log comparison between the observed and theoretical values of coefficient of
permeabilityobtained in present study and the results available in literature (Sridharan2002) and found in good
agreement.
Fig 7 shows a log-log graph between observed permeability values of the two layer soil system and the isolated
permeability of the exit layer obtained in the present study and the results ofSridharan(2002).
Table 3 Observed and Theoretical values of Permeability for Stratified Soils

S.No. Details of Stratification of Soils Observed Permeability Theoretical Permeability Percentage deviation

1. Sand(top) and silt (bottom) 5.37110-5 7.935810-5 -47.75

2. Silt(top) and sand(bottom) 5.01810-5 7.935810-5 -58.15
-5 -5
3. Silt(top) and fly ash(bottom) 4.99610 7.46310 -49.37
4. Fly ash(top) and silt(bottom) 5.969910-5 7.46310-5 -25.01
5. Sand(top) and fly ash(bottom) 8.85610-4 1.068710-3 -20.67
-4 -3
6. Fly ash(top) and sand(bottom) 9.04510 1.068710 -18.15
7. Sand(top) and Clay(bottom) 2.09210-6 3.13710-6 -49.95
8. Clay(top) and Sand(bottom) 2.41410-6 3.13710-6 -29.95

Table 4 Observed Permeability for different arrangement of layers and Isolated Permeability of exit layer
S.No. Arrangement of layers Observed Permeability Isolated permeability of Percentage deviation
exit layer
1. Sand(top) and silt (bottom) 5.37110-5 3.98910-5 -34.65
-4
2. Sand(top) and fly ash(bottom) 8.85610 5.76910-4 -53.51
3. Sand(top) and clay(bottom) 2.09210-6 1.56910-6 -33.34
-5 -5
4. Fly ash(top) and silt(bottom) 5.96910 3.98910 -49.64
5. Silt(top) and fly ash(bottom) 4.99610-5 5.76910-4 91.34
6. Silt(top) and sand(bottom) 5.01810-5 7.23610-3 99.31
-4 -3
7. Fly ash(top) and sand(bottom) 9.04510 7.23610 87.50
8. Clay(top) and sand(bottom) 2.41410-6 7.23610-3 99.97
 Javed Alam et al. / Aquatic Procedia 4 (2015) 660 667 665

4. Conclusion

In a two layer stratified soil system, if exit layer is less pervious than the top layer, the permeability of the soil
deposit has been found to be more as compared to the isolated permeability of exit layer whereas, if exit layer is
more pervious than the top layer, the permeability of the soil deposit has been obtained to be less as compared to
the isolated permeability of exit layer.
Value of Permeability of sediments while used in stratified soil changes to a significant amount depending upon
the permeability of soil below or above it. The effect of interface also seems to be important as in all the cases
considered, the observed values of permeability were less than their theoretical values. In context with all the above
results it is very clear that formula derived by using Darcys Law for calculating equivalent coefficient of
permeability is not valid at all as this formula doesnt incorporate any factor which governs for the interface effects
between the two soil layers.

Fig.2.Particle size distribution for Flyash

Fig. 3.Particle size distribution for Clay

666 Javed Alam et al. / Aquatic Procedia 4 (2015) 660 667

Fig. 4.Particle size distribution for Silt

Fig. 5.Particle size distribution for Sand

Fig. 6.Comparison Curve of theoretical and observed values of permeability

 Javed Alam et al. / Aquatic Procedia 4 (2015) 660 667 667

Fig. 7.Observed Permeability v/s Isolated permeability of Exit Layer

References

ASTM C 618-03.Standard specification for coal fly ash and raw or calcined natural pozzolans for use as a mineral admixture in concrete.
IS 1498-1970. Classification and Identification of soils for general engineering purposes, First revision, Reaffirmed 2007, Bureau of Indian
Standards, New Delhi.
IS 2720-Part-I 1983.Methods of test for soils, Second revision, Reaffirmed 1995, Indian Standards Institution, New Delhi.
IS 2720-Part-III 1980.Methods of test for soils, Second revision, Reaffirmed 1997, Bureau of Indian Standards, New Delhi.
IS 2720-Part-IV 1985.Methods of test for soils, Second revision, Reaffirmed 1995, Bureau of Indian Standards, New Delhi.
Kaushik, S. K., Kumar, A., 1998, Fly ashsilica fume high performance concretea state of the art. Proceeding of Workshop on Utilization of
Fly ash. ICI, 1547, Roorkee.
Ranjan, G., Rao, A.S.R., 2011. Basic and Applied Soil Mechanics, New Age International Publishers, New Delhi-110002.
Sridharan, A., Prakash, K., 2002. Permeability of Two-Layer soils, Journal of Geotechnical testing, ASTM International, 25(4), 447-448.

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