The in situ determination of the field-saturated hydraulic conductivity of low-permeability porous materials is a major concern for both geotechnics and soil physics with regards to environmental protection or water resources management. Recent early-time single-ring infiltration experiments, involving sequential constant head and falling head conditions, allow its efficient estimation. Nevertheless, the theory on which the interpretation was based was still strictly valid to nondeformable soils and implicitly relied on a particular form of the hydraulic conductivity-soil water pressure head relationship. This theory is now extended to deformable materials, without any restrictive hypothesis. A new concept, bulk sorptivity, which characterizes the solid phase movement, is introduced. Field experiments, conducted on two liners of swelling and slowly permeable materials, revealed that neglecting the soil deformation induces an underestimation of the actual coefficient of permeability of the soil.¿ 1997 American Geophysical Union