Methods of Determination
There are two broad categories of determining hydraulic conductivity:
- Empirical approach by which the hydraulic conductivity is correlated to soil properties like pore size and particle size (grain size) distributions, and soil texture
- Experimental approach by which the hydraulic conductivity is determined from hydraulic experiments using Darcy's law
The experimental approach is broadly classified into:
- Laboratory tests using soil samples subjected to hydraulic experiments
- Field tests (on site, in situ) that are differentiated into:
- small scale field tests, using observations of the water level in cavities in the soil
- large scale field tests, like pump tests in wells or by observing the functioning of existing horizontal drainage systems.
The small scale field tests are further subdivided into:
- infiltration tests in cavities above the water table
- slug tests in cavities below the water table
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