FALLING HEAD PERMEAMETER AND SOFTWARE TO DETERMINE THE HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY OF SATURATED SOIL

The soil saturated hydraulic conductivity (K-theta s) is a property with great variability, which requires the use of a greater number of determinations so that they can be described by the normal probability density function. Consequently, there is an increase in time and labor to obtain K-theta s results if determined by conventional equipment. The use of more practical equipment and computational tools allows a faster and more accurate analysis. With this aim a falling head permeameter was built and a software for data acquisition was developed. Values of K-theta s obtained with this equipment in Hapludalf samples showed less variability, as assessed by the coefficient of variation, resulting in more precise measurements. Moreover, the time of analysis was reduced by 30%.