Predicting the dependency of a permeability function on initial density for unsaturated soils

Abstract

This paper presents a simple approach to quantify the effect of initial density on the relative coefficient of permeability for unsaturated soils. This approach is derived on two bases: an incremental relationship between the degree of saturation and the initial void ratio; predicting the permeability function for unsaturated soils by use of the water retention curve. For a given soil, only one additional parameter is required, which can conveniently be calibrated by the conventional water retention curve tests. The relative coefficient of permeability for the same soil at different initial densities can be predicted by the proposed approach. The proposed approach has been validated by experimental data from the literature where both the water retention curves and the coefficients of permeability under different initial densities were measured.