Hydraulic conductivity requirement of granular and geotextile filter for internally stable soils

Abstract

A filter media satisfying the hydraulic conductivity requirements allows unimpeded seepage without generation of surplus pressure head and decrease of flow rate. This paper proposes design criteria for the hydraulic conductivity requirements of a filter based on governing flow equations. The results have shown that the hydraulic conductivity requirements of pressure head and flow rate are satisfied with a single condition of hydraulic conductivity of filter greater than or equal to the hydraulic conductivity of soil times the hydraulic gradient in soil. The proposed model is developed for saturated conditions and is also applicable for partially saturated conditions. The developed model is validated based on the experimental evaluations of sandy soil with three granular filters and two needle punched non-woven geotextile filters. The developed design criterion applies to internally stable soils with granular and geotextiles filters and offers an improvement in the standards and current design guidelines for protective filters.