Orange County Branch Newsletter

October 2017

ASCE OC Programs

Geo-Institute - Fundamentals of Infiltration Testing and Analyses


By Clint Isa, P.E., ASCE OC Geo-Institute Chair

The ASCE-Orange County Geo-Institute (GI) hosted a dinner meeting at the Back Bay Conference Center in Irvine, California on August 15, 2017.  The event, which was attended by a mix of more than 60 industry professionals and students, featured a presentation by Mr. David Albus, PE, GE (Principal, Albus-Keefe & Associates, Inc.).       

Mr. Albus began his presentation with an overview on the principals of water flow through earth materials with an emphasis on infiltration devices, such as open basins, shallow chamber systems, and dry wells.  He then reviewed the underlying theory and governing equation of saturated flow and discussed the most common field test procedures to measure permeability, including the falling and constant head tests and shallow and deep test methods.  After discussing the applicability and shortcomings of each of the test methods, Mr. Albus provided insight on various methods of estimating permeability from laboratory correlations and how the correlations should be used in concert with the results of field test procedures.  He then continued by describing methods of estimating the infiltration rates and drawdown of shallow and dry well systems using both closed form solutions and computer simulations based the results of permeability testing.  As part of his discussion regarding computer modeling, Mr. Albus addressed methods to model multi-layered soil profiles and the lateral extent of saturation influence.  He concluded the presentation with a general discussion on incorporating these methods into the current LID procedures.

      

On behalf of the ASCE OC GI and our membership, we thank Mr. Albus for having contributed his time and knowledge to this event.  We would also like to offer special thanks to our event sponsors: Hayward Baker, Contech Engineered Solutions, StormTrap, and Torrent Resources.

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