Chapter 4
• Permeability
• The subject of permeability is concerned with fluid flow through a material
• rocks and rock masses in our current context
• one of the most difficult topics facing the practising rock engineer.
• There are formal definitions of permeability and the associated
characteristics for continuous materials but, as is emphasized throughout this
book, a rock mass contains discontinuities, and discontinuities are
preferential flow paths.
• In this chapter, therefore, we will initially present the definitions of
permeability and hydraulic conductivity
• discuss the tensorial nature of permeability.
• We will then consider fluid flow in discontinuities and the associated
ideas of primary and secondary permeability.
• The subject of the permeability of the rock mass can be studied in
terms of the effective permeability of discontinuity networks: there is
then the corollary of a natural scale effect and the representative
elemental volume.
• We should note in passing that the phenomenon of water flowing
through rock has been observed since antiquity.
• In Creechs (1683) English translation of Lucretius’ six books of
Epicurean philosophy on the nature of things, in Book I are the lines,
Tho free from Pores, and Solid Things appear,
Yet many Reasons prove them to be Rare:
For drops distill, and subtle moisture creeps
Thro hardest Rocks, and every Marble weeps ...
• Darcy’s law
• The Lugeon test (or Packer Test) is an in-situ testing method widely used to estimate the average
hydraulic conductivity of rock formations.
• The test is named after Maurice Lugeon (1933), a Swiss geologist who first formulated the test.
• The test is also referred to as a "water pressure test" or a "packer test".
• The Lugeon test is a constant rate injection test carried out in a portion of a borehole isolated by
inflated packers.
• Water is injected into the isolated portion of the borehole using a slotted pipe.
• Water is injected at specific pressure “steps” and the resulting pressure is recorded when the flow
has reached a quasi-steady state condition.
• A pressure transducer is also located in that portion of the borehole to measure the pressure with
a help of reading station on the surface.
• The results provide information about hydraulic conductivity of the rock mass including the rock
matrix and the discontinuities (Rolye, undated).
• Assumptions and Limitations
• One of the main drawbacks of the Lugeon test is that only a limited volume of
rock around the hole is actually affected by the test.
• It has been estimated that the effect of the Lugeon tests – with a test interval
length of 10 feet - is restricted to an approximate radius of 30 feet around the
borehole (Bliss and Rushton, 1984).
• This suggests that the hydraulic conductivity value estimated from this test is
only representative for a cylinder of rock delimited by the length of the test
interval and the radius given above.
• The test can be applied for both vertical and slanted/angled boreholes.
• Aquifer Test assumes that flow meter readings are taken every one minute.
