Design, Fabrication, Evaluation and Calibration of an Improvised Soil Permeameter for Measurement of Soil Hydraulic Conductivity

J.O Alika,M.A Ajibike,B.K Adeogun

doi:10.4314/jasem.v24i5.22

Abstract

This study aimed at the design, fabrication, evaluation and calibration of an improvised soil permeameter for measuring saturated soil hydraulic conductivities. A metal support frame with a permissible strength of 50e-4 N/mm2 was made using steel galvanized pipes of 6 cmØ (internal diameter) and metal flat bars of 8cm long and 0.4cm thick. The water tank (thickness 0.6 cm, height 28 cm, internal diameter 19 cmØ) and permeameter cylinder (thickness 0.6 cm, height 23 cm, internal diameter 19 cmØ) were both made of Perspex glass material. An electromechanical measuring device which was programmed and operated wirelessly was designed and constructed to measure head-in and head-out parameters. To calibrate the improvised soil permeameter, sampled and particle analysed soils from different locations within Zaria metropolis, were a test run on both foreign and improvised soil permeameters and their respective Ksat readings were subjected to regression analysis. According to the R2 values, the generated 3rd order polynomial regression equation from the Ksat readings of both foreign and improvised soil permeameter had a satisfactory R2 value of 0.985. Keywords: Permeameter, Hydraulic Conductivity, Electromechanical, Saturated, Automation

Highlights

Soil, a naturally occurring material present on the surface of the earth is of utmost importance in various civil engineering works such as the construction of multi-story buildings, bridges, highways, canals, etc (Gupta et al, 2016)
Soil permeability is affected by several factors including voids ratio, distribution of inter-granular pores, and degree of saturation
Automation has been achieved by various means including mechanical, hydraulic, pneumatic, electrical, electronic devices and computers, usually in combination as a kind of feasible sensor with advantages of low cost, low power consumption and strong adaptability (Fabian et al, 2014)

Summary

Introduction

A naturally occurring material present on the surface of the earth is of utmost importance in various civil engineering works such as the construction of multi-story buildings, bridges, highways, canals, etc (Gupta et al, 2016). Automation has been achieved by various means including mechanical, hydraulic, pneumatic, electrical, electronic devices and computers, usually in combination as a kind of feasible sensor with advantages of low cost, low power consumption and strong adaptability (Fabian et al, 2014). Programming involves activities such as analysis, developing understanding, generating algorithms, verification of requirements of algorithms including their correctness and resources consumption, and implementation (commonly referred to as coding (Shaun, 2014)) of algorithms in a target programming language. The objective of this study is to evaluate and calibrate an improvised soil permeameter for determination of saturated hydraulic conductivity of different soil samples

Objectives

Methods

Results