A new simple and low-cost air permeameter for unsaturated soils

Abstract

Air permeability, ka, plays an important role in understanding the air transport behavior in unsaturated soils. As for the measurement of ka, existing air permeameters using steady-state methods are relatively complicated and costly. Therefore, in this study, a new simple and low-cost air permeameter was developed, which can supply steady air pressure on soil specimen and measure the flow rate of air through soil specimen accurately. To verify the reliability of this new air permeameter, a comparison of ka of clay, silt loam, and sandy loam specimens measured using the new air permeameter and the one proposed in ASTM D6539 was conducted. One-way analysis of variance shows that the difference of the results from the two air permeameters is not significant (p > 0.05).