Estimating permeability function of soil from mini-disk infiltrometer tests

Abstract

Current in-situ methods to investigate infiltration such at the single ring and double ring permeameters and disc infiltrometer are bulky and takes a lot of effort to transport and apply. Therefore, the mini-disc infiltrometer fills the need of a portable and easy to execute equipment to estimate the permeability function of soil. The aim of this report is to determine the reliability of infiltration results from the mini-disc infiltrometer, in conjunction with inverse regression software DISC to estimate the a and n parameters of soil. Test locations around Nanyang Technological University (NTU) having slopes were chosen as test locations. To determine the reliability of results, laboratory test such as the falling-head permeability test and the pressure plate test were conducted and compared to the mini-disc and DISC results. The data obtained shows that infiltration data is consistent with the results from falling-head test. However, the SWCC generated from the DISC program and pressure plate test vary significantly from one another.