Coefficient of Permeability

Typical Coefficient of Permeability k Values for Different Soils
Coefficeint of Permeability
k, (cm/sec)
Relative Permeability
> 1 x 10-1
Very permeable
Tyoical Soils
Coarse gravel
Medium permeable
1 x 10 to 1 x 10
Low permeable
1 x 10-3 to 1 x 10-5
Silty sand, dirty sand
Very low permeable
1 x 10 to 1 x 10
Silt, fine sandstone
-1
-5
< 1 x 10-7
Impervious
-3
-7
Sand, fine sand
Clay
Ishibashi, I. and Hazarika, H. 2011. Soil Mechanics Fundamentas.

CRC Press Taylor & Francis Group, USA.
HAZEN'S FORMULA (1911)
Widely used for saturaed sandy soils.
2
k = C(D10)
where,
k = coefficeint of permeability (cm/sec)

D10 = particel size for which 10% of soil is finer (mm)
C = Hazen's empirical coefficeint, which takes a value between 0.4 and 10.0
(mostly 0.4 to 1.5), depending on literatures (Carrier 2003), with the
average value of 1.0
Because of the wide range of C values, this equation shall be used only as a rough estimate of k.
Input parametrs marked in purple:
D10 = 0.0300 mm
C = 1.0
k=
9.00E-04
cm/sec
Notes:
1. Generally limited to 0.1 mm < D 10 < 3 mm (Hazen 1892, 1911; Holz and Kovacs 1981; Coduto 1999)
2. The Hazen empirical coefficeint corresponds to a water temperature of 10C.
Approximate Coefficient of Permeability for Various Sands
Type of Sand (USCS)
k, (cm/sec)
Sandy Silt
0.0005 to 0.002
Silty Sand
0.002 to 0.005
Very Fine Sand

Fine Sand
Fine to Medium Sand
Medium Sand
Medium to Coarse Sand
Coarse Sand and Gravel
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
en 0.4 and 10.0

3), with the
Kovacs 1981; Coduto 1999)
0.005 to 0.02
0.02 to 0.05
0.05 to 0.1
0.1 to 0.15
0.15 to 0.2
0.2 to 0.5
k, (cm/sec)
> 1 x 10-1
Very permeable
Tyoical Soils
Coarse gravel
Medium permeable
1 x 10 to 1 x 10
-3
Low permeable
1 x 10 to 1 x 10
-5
Very low permeable
1 x 10 to 1 x 10
-7
-1
-3
-5
< 1 x 10
Impervious
-7
Sand, fine sand
Clay

CHAPUIS'S FORMULA (2004)
2
3
0.7825
k = 2.4622[(D10) (e /(1+e))]
where,

D10 = particel size for which 10% of soil is finer (mm)
e = void ratio of soil (volume of voids / volume of solid particles)
Ranges of void ratio, e (Braja, M. DAS: Principles of Foundation Engineering)
Soil Type
Poorly graded sand with loose density
Well-graded dense sand
Loose density sand w angular particles
Dense density sand w angular particles
Stiff clay
Soft clay
Loess
Soft organic clay
Glacial till
D10 = 0.0100 mm
e = 0.45
k=
2.09E-04
cm/sec
e
0.8
0.45
0.65
0.4
0.6
0.9 - 1.4
0.9
2.5 - 3.2
0.3
Type of Sand (USCS)
k, (cm/sec)
Sandy Silt
0.0005 to 0.002
Silty Sand
0.002 to 0.005
Very Fine Sand

Fine Sand
Fine to Medium Sand
Medium Sand
Medium to Coarse San
Coarse Sand and Grave
0.005 to 0.02
0.02 to 0.05
0.05 to 0.1
0.1 to 0.15
0.15 to 0.2
0.2 to 0.5
k, (cm/sec)
> 1 x 10-1
Tyoical Soils
Type of Sand (USCS)
k, (cm/sec)
Coarse gravel
Sandy Silt
0.0005 to 0.002
Medium permeable
1 x 10-1 to 1 x 10-3
Sand, fine sand
Silty Sand
0.002 to 0.005
Low permeable
1 x 10-3 to 1 x 10-5
Very Fine Sand
Very low permeable
1 x 10-5 to 1 x 10-7
Fine Sand
Clay

Fine to Medium Sand

Medium Sand
Medium to Coarse Sand
Coarse Sand and Gravel
KOZENY (1927) AND CARMAN'S (1938 and 1956) FORMULA
Very permeable
< 1 x 10-7
Impervious
0.005 to 0.02
0.02 to 0.05
0.05 to 0.1
0.1 to 0.15
0.15 to 0.2
0.2 to 0.5
2
3
k = (w/w)[1/(Ck-cSs )][e /(1+e)]
where,

w = unit weight of water (9.81 kN/m3)
w = viscosity of water (1.307 x 10-3 Nsec/m2 for T=10C ; 1.002 x 10-3 Nsec/m2 for T=20C)
Ck-c = Kozeny-Carman's empirical constant (4.8 0.3 for uniform spheres and usually 5.0 is used)
Ss = specific surface area per unti volume of particles (1/cm)
e = void ratio of soil (volume of voids / volume of solid particles)
Ranges of void ratio, e (Braja, M. DAS: Prin
Soil Type
Poorly graded sand with loose density
When w = 9.81 kN/m3, w = 1.002 x 10-3 Nsec/m3 and Ck-c = 5.0 are substituted, the equation becomes:
Well-graded dense sand

Loose density sand with angular particles
4
2
3
k = (1.96 x 10 )(1/Ss )[e /(1+e)]
Dense density sand with angular particles

Stiff clay
Estimation of Ss values is not straightforward. It is 6/D for uniform sphereswith D as the diameter of the spheres.
Soft clay
Carrier (2003) gave estimation of Ss for distributed soils from effective diameter, Deff
Loess
Soft organic clay
Ss = SF/Def
where,
and
Def = 100% / (fi / Davg i)
and
Davg i = Dl,i0.5Ds,i0.5
SF = shape factor (spherical-6, rounded-6.1, worn-6.4, sharp-7.4 and angular 7.7 by Fair and Hatch (1933) or,
rounded-6.6, medium angularity-7.5 and angular-8.4 by London (1952))
Def = effective diameter of particles
fi = fraction (in percent) of particles between two sieve sizes with Dl,i as larger and Ds,i as smaller sieve sizes
Davg i = average particel size betweentwo sieve sizes
Now,
4
0.5
0.5
2
2
3
k = (1.96 x 10 )[100% / {(fi/(Dl,i Ds,i }] (1/SF )[e /(1+e)]
Although,
Dave,i = Dl,i0.5Ds,i0.5
Ss/SF = (1/Di)ave (1/Dave i)
Glacial till
It can be shown that,
(1/Di)ave = 1 / (Dl,i0.404Ds,i0.595)
Assuming the particle size distribution is log-linear between

each pair of sieve sizes.
4
0.404
Ds,i0.595}]2(1/SF2)[e3/(1+e)]
k = (1.96 x 10 )[100% / {(fi/(Dl,i
Notes:
e = 0.50
k=
1.44E-05
HYDROMETER
(mm)
75
63
53
37.5
26.5
19
13.2
9.5
4.75
2
0.85
0.425
0.25
0.106
0.075
0.0467
0.0335
0.0214
0.0125
0.0089
0.0063
0.0031
0.0013
0.0002
Passing (%)
100
100
100
100
100
96.1
96.1
94.7
92.6
89.9
88.7
87.7
84.8
34.3
23.5
15.2
13.5
11.9
10.2
9.3
8.5
6.8
5.1
0
cm/sec
calculate Deff.
3. Formula does not explicitly account for anisotropy.
fi / (Dl,i0.404Ds,i0.595)
Size of openings, inches
(%)
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
3.90
0.00
1.40
2.10
2.70
1.20
1.00
2.90
50.50
10.80
8.30
1.70
1.60
1.70
0.90
0.80
1.70
1.70
5.10
6.7473366
5.6738484
4.3068134
3.0460703
2.1719495
1.5288256
1.0850691
0.6289745
0.2841169
0.1203983
0.0564127
0.0310916
0.0150600
0.0086673
0.0056855
0.0038531
0.0025806
0.0015637
0.0010281
0.0007297
0.0004162
0.0001863
0.0000431
(fi / Davg i) =
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
1.80
0.00
1.29
3.34
9.50
9.97
17.73
93.27
3353.26
1246.06
1459.86
441.21
620.02
1087.18
875.39
1096.30
4084.65
9123.10
118419.77
141943.69
U.S.S. Sieve Size, meshes/inch
100
90
80
70
PERCENT FINER THAN
COARSE SIEVING
SF = 7.5
Soil Type = Sand, some silt, trace to some clay
fi
(Dl,i0.404Ds,i0.595)
Size
Cumulative
1. Formula is not appropriate for clayey soils, although it will work for non-p
2. Formula is not appropriate if the particle size distribution has long, flat ta
fine section. As a practical matter, D0 must be know or estimated in order
60
50
40
30
20
10
2
0
1000
100
10
0.1
GRAIN SIZE, m m
id ratio, e (Braja, M. DAS: Principles of Foundation Engineering)
d sand with loose density
y sand with angular particles
y sand with angular particles
e
0.8
0.45
0.65
0.4
0.6
0.9 - 1.4
0.9
2.5 - 3.2
0.3
although it will work for non-plastic silts.

ze distribution has long, flat tail in the
be know or estimated in order to
GRAIN SIZE, m m
0.1
0.01
0.001
0.0001

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Typical Coefficient of Permeability k Values for Different Soils

Silty sand, dirty sand

Very low permeable

Silt, fine sandstone

Sand, fine sand

Ishibashi, I. and Hazarika, H. 2011. Soil Mechanics Fundamentas.

k = coefficeint of permeability (cm/sec)

Approximate Coefficient of Permeability for Various Sands

Type of Sand (USCS)

Very Fine Sand

en 0.4 and 10.0

Kovacs 1981; Coduto 1999)

Typical Coefficient of Permeability k Values for Different Soils

Silty sand, dirty sand

Very low permeable

Silt, fine sandstone

Sand, fine sand

Ishibashi, I. and Hazarika, H. 2011. Soil Mechanics Fundamentas.

k = coefficeint of permeability (cm/sec)

Approximate Coefficient of Permeability for Various Sands

Type of Sand (USCS)

Very Fine Sand

Typical Coefficient of Permeability k Values for Different Soils

Approximate Coefficient of Permeability for Various Sands

Type of Sand (USCS)

Sand, fine sand

Silty sand, dirty sand

Very Fine Sand

Very low permeable

Silt, fine sandstone

Ishibashi, I. and Hazarika, H. 2011. Soil Mechanics Fundamentas.

Fine to Medium Sand

KOZENY (1927) AND CARMAN'S (1938 and 1956) FORMULA

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

k = coefficeint of permeability (cm/sec)

Ranges of void ratio, e (Braja, M. DAS: Prin

Well-graded dense sand

Dense density sand with angular particles

Def = 100% / (fi / Davg i)

Ss/SF = (1/Di)ave (1/Dave i)

It can be shown that,

Assuming the particle size distribution is log-linear between

Size of openings, inches

U.S.S. Sieve Size, meshes/inch

id ratio, e (Braja, M. DAS: Principles of Foundation Engineering)

d sand with loose density

y sand with angular particles

y sand with angular particles

although it will work for non-plastic silts.

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