Influence of thickness and position of the individual layer on the permeability of the stratified soil

Flow of fluid through a porous media is a very important phenomenon that occurs largely in many physical situations such as flow in an aquifer, flow through filters for water purification in sewage treatment plant, flow in packed bed chemical reactor, etc. Permeability is a characteristic parameter for a porous media and it tells about the ease with which water flows through the interconnected voids. Since it directly influences the rate of flow of water in a soil, it has a decisive effect on problems involving excavations of open cuts in sand below water table, seepage through embankment dams, sub-grade drainage, rate of consolidation of compressible soil, etc. In a soil profile, each layer may have its own properties which may or may not be same as compared to the layer below or above it. The relative position and the thickness of a soil layer of a stratified soil system are some of the important parameters which affect the permeability of the composite soil layer. In the present study the experiments have, therefore, been conducted to investigate the influence of position and thickness of the individual layer on the permeability of the composite soil. It has been found that thickness of end layer has significant effect on the permeability of stratified soils