On site tests to estimate aquifer permeability of drainage area of south caisson anchorage construction of Taizhou Bridge

During the construction of the south caisson anchorage of Taizhou Bridge, the drainage area is located in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River and the permeability of stratums there is considerable. In order to maintain progress and guarantee safety during the sinking of the caisson, water should be drained in the initial period. Subsequently, detailed information about the aquifer permeability is required to make sure that the drainage will proceed successfully, which consequently necessitates the on site estimation of the aquifer permeability in the drainage area. Therefore, the traditional pumping test and slug test are implemented respectively on site. The comparison of computational results of these two tests indicates that they are consistent overall. Notwithstanding, as slug test can be conducted with portable facilities in a short time and the manipulation is easy and few people need to be involved, the advantages of slug test is conspicuous compared with the traditional pumping test. It could be speculated that slug test will gain a prevalent application in the measurement of aquifer permeability in the future.