COMPARISON OF SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY MEASURED BY VARIOUS FIELD METHODS

Field experiments were conducted to compare the saturated hydraulic co nductivity (K(S)) measured by four different techniques: Double Ring I nfiltrometer (RI), Rainfall Simulator (RS), Guelph Permeameter (GP), a nd Guelph Infiltrometer (GI). K(S) values obtained with the RI and GP were statistically the same, but were significantly lower than those d etermined by the RS and GI methods. The K(S) values obtained with the GP and the GI have greater variability than those obtained with the RI and RS methods. The GP and GI methods require a larger number of meas urements (as compared to the RI and the RS methods) to achieve a mean K(S) value exhibiting a comparable standard error of estimate.