Hydraulic conductivity K is the proportionality factor in Darcy's Equation (Darcy, 1856), which relates the velocity v of water in a soil or other porous medium to the hydraulic gradient i as follows:
The velocity is the gross velocity, or Darcy velocity, which is the velocity as if the water were also moving through the solid particles of the medium. Thus the volume rate of flow through a certain cross‐sectional area normal to the flow direction is calculated as vA, where A is the gross area of the cross‐section (solids as well as pores). The actual, or macroscopic, velocity of water in the pores is about equal to v/n, where n is the porosity of the medium. The hydraulic gradient i is the rate of decrease in the total head (sum of pressure head and elevation head) along a streamline in the direction of flow. If the streamlines are parallel (Figure C59), i is calculated as
Pressure head and elevation head in a system of parallel streamlines.
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Chesworth, W. et al. (2008). Conductivity, Hydraulic. In: Chesworth, W. (eds) Encyclopedia of Soil Science. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-3995-9_125
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