Using these permeability–porosity relationships and the vertical
porosity distributions generated from surface compacted specimens,
an accurate vertical permeability distribution within a
specimen was created and experimentally verified. From this, an
effective permeability was calculated which had a much higher
correlation with the actual permeability of the specimen than a
prediction of the specimen’s permeability using only the average
porosity. Additionally, by analyzing the relationship between the
permeability distribution and effective permeability, it was found
that the minimum permeability (and therefore minimum porosity)
value of the distribution tends to have the largest impact on the
overall effective porosity.