The effective porosity and grain size relations in permeability functions

Abstract. Hydrogeological parameters of coherent and incoherent deposits are deeply dependent of their granulometric characteristics. These relations were shaped in formulas and defaultly used for calculation of hydraulic conductivity, and are valid only for uniform incoherent materials, mostly sands. In this paper, the results of analyses of permeability and specific surface area as a function of granulometric composition of various sediments – from siltey clays to very well graded gravels are presented. The effective porosity and the referential grain size are presented as fundamental granulometric parameters which express an effect of forces operating fluid movement through the saturated porous media. Suggested procedures for calculating referential grain size and determining effective (flow) porosity result with parameters that reliably determine specific surface area and permeability. These procedures ensure successful appliance of Kozeny–Carman model up to the limits of validity of Darcy's law. The value of an effective porosity in function of referential mean grain size has been calibrated within range from 1.5 μm to 6.0 mm. Reliability of these parameters application in KC model was confirmed by very high correlation between predicted and tested hydraulic conductivity – R² = 0.99 for sandy and gravelly materials and R² = 0.70 for clayey-siltey materials. Group representation of hydraulic conductivity (ranged from 10^-12 m s^-1 up to 10^-2 m s^-1) presents coefficient of correlation R² = 0.97, for total sum of 175 samples of various deposits. These results present the new road to researches of porous material's effective porosity, permeability and specific surface area distribution, since these three parameters are critical conditions for successful groundwater flow modelling and contaminant transport. From the practical point of view, it is very important to be able to identify these parameters swiftly, cheaply and very accurately.