ABSTRACT
Permeability is an important parameter for groundwater control projects. In geotechnical practice, permeability is a widely used parameter, which represents the ease or otherwise with which water passes through a volume of soil or rock. Although a wide range of permeability assessment methods are available, obtaining realistic values of permeability is far from straightforward. A simple validation that is often overlooked is to assess permeability values against published ranges based on visual descriptions of strata. An American water works and sanitary engineer from New England, Allen Hazen, was one of the first to propose an empirical correlation for the permeability of a sand from its particle size distribution curve. An obvious and logical approach to assessing permeability is to obtain a sample of soil or rock from a borehole or trial pit and then subject it to tests in the laboratory.
