Determination of Hydraulic Conductivity of Unconsolidated River Alluvium from Permeameter Tests, Empirical Formulas and Statistical Parameters Effect Analysis

Hydraulic conductivity is an important parameter for the investigation of flow processes through streambeds. This paper presents a comparison of hydraulic conductivity estimates of unconsolidated sandy samples collected at four sites of the Nestos River point-bar deposits, Greece. Values of K were determined using laboratory permeameter tests as well as the widely applied empirical formulas of Hazen, Slichter, Terzaghi, Beyer, Sauerbrei, Krueger, Kozeny, Zunker, Zamarin, USBR, Alyamani and Sen, Shepherd, and Loudon, based on the grain-size distribution. In a statistical regression analysis, the relation between several graphical statistical grain size parameters and the determined K values, and the effect of these parameters on K estimates was investigated. For this study site it was found that the empirical formula of Loudon provided the most reliable K estimates for the upper 0.25 m of the streambed. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2011