Design and Development of Soil Permeability Testing Apparatus for Use in Laboratory of the Department of Civil Engineering, Navaminda Kasatriyadhiraj Royal Air Force Academy

Abstract

This research studied to design and develop the apparatus of soil permeability test for use in soil mechanics laboratory in civil engineering department, Navaminda Kasatriyadhiraj Royal Air Force Academy. The research methodology involves stages of collecting the related information, designing and manufacturing the equipment set of soil permeability test with available and inexpensive materials. The soil permeability test was then performed on soil samples with the developed equipment. The obtained results were compared with the soil sample that was tested by an outsourcing laboratory, and then the step of discussion and conclusion were performed. After testing and solving some defect, it was found that the coefficients of permeability of soil samples obtained from the developed equipment are corresponding with the typical values as previously proposed. Moreover, the variance of the results obtained from the test were relatively small and the discrepancy between the results and the value obtained from the test performed by outsourcing laboratory is approximately 12 - 14%. Therefore, it can be concluded that the developed soil permeability testing apparatus provides acceptable test results and also, its production costs is relatively low. The developed equipment is thus suitable for use in soil mechanics laboratory in civil engineering department, Navaminda Kasatriyadhiraj Royal Air Force Academy for the benefit of future education and research.