Hydraulic conductivity of compacted lateritic soil

Hydraulic conductivity tests were conducted on three samples of lateritic soil obtained from the same borrow area and having a narrow range of fines content. Eighty four specimens were compacted at various molding water contents and then permeated with distilled/de-ionized water in the laboratory. Test results show that hydraulic conductivity of the soils decreased with the increase in dry unit weight and initial saturation, especially at higher fines content. Hydraulic conductivity values less than 1 X 10(-9) m/s can be obtained at dry unit weights (wet of optimum) and initial saturations greater than 16.0 kN/m(3) and 86.0%, respectively, provided a minimum compaction energy equal to the British Standard Light effort is used. The difference in hydraulic conductivity values due to variations in molding water contents and compactive efforts are statistically significant as shown by the two-way analysis of variance tests.