Simulation of hydraulic performance in synthetic envelope pp450 and mineral envelope using Permeameter in laboratory condition

The effect of mineral clogging by soil particles is one of the main factors affecting the performance of drainage systems. Many drainage systems designs do not pay attention to laboratory and local studies on certain important parameters and some of them use to be specific for a given conditions. Several studies carried out in The Netherlands have shown that nearly 80% of drainage projects’ failure happens as a result of inappropriate performance of drain filters. Since field studies in order to evaluate drain envelopes is not economical from viewpoint of time and cost. Therefore laboratory evaluation is proper for envelopes. The main goal of this study was obtaining a set of empirical equations in order to estimate hydraulic and clogging parameters using hydraulic head and discharge through drains which are easy to measure. Removing the effect of piezometers installed the Permeameter was another goal.
To conduct this research, The Permeameter which designed and was made according to ASTM-5101 standard, was used PP-450 and gravel envelope were evaluated according to USBR standard. Required soil for this experiment was collected from a drainage project in the north of Khorramshahr at 1.65 m depth. The test was conducted in laboratory using Permeameter by producing 4 different hydraulic pressure head (25, 50, 75, 100 cm). In this study, special parameters (envelope hydraulic conductivity, soil hydraulic conductivity, soil-envelope hydraulic conductivity, gradient ratio) were calculated by measurement of outflow changes in soil envelope system and hydraulic pressure head of manometer.
After the tests were completed, the values of hydraulic conductivity for soil-envelope system, soil and geotextile envelope were estimated as functions of hydraulic head and outflow values. Furthermore, other relations were proposed for gradient ratio. The relations between different parameters were analyzed by Sigma Plot software and proper relations were proposed. The errors of the fitting equations and the difference between measured and estimated values were analyzed using the statistic indices. Results showed that these models are accuracy estimation of assessed parameters.
Correlation coefficient of these equations for pp450 envelope for soil-envelope hydraulic conductivity, soil hydraulic conductivity, envelope hydraulic conductivity and gradient ratio are 0.96, 0.96, 0.62 and 0.96 respectively and for gravel envelope for soil-envelope hydraulic conductivity, soil hydraulic conductivity, and envelope hydraulic conductivity are 0.98, 0.98, and 0.63 respectively. Low correlation coefficient for estimation of envelope hydraulic conductivity is related to envelope clogging during experiment time. Using of proposed equations can be estimate clogging and hydraulic performance of drainage envelopes in different conditions.