Measurement of field-saturated hydraulic conductivity by using Guelph and velocity permeameters

Field experiments were conducted to evaluate the performance of two recently developed in situ techniques to measure saturated hydraulic conductivity (K). These two techniques are (1) the constant-head well permeameter method using the Guelph permeameter, and (2) the falling-head permeameter method using the velocity permeameter. K was measured on a silt loam soil at eight sites and for four different depths (150, 300, 450, 600 mm) at each site by using these two techniques. K determinations were also made in the laboratory by using a constant-head permeameter on undisturbed soil columns collected from all test sites and depths. Study results are discussed.