This study deals with the behavior of composite blends constituted of rigid and impervious grainsincluded in saturated clay paste of kaolin, considered as permeable and deformable. Permeabilitytests performed during standard oedometr tests (before each load step) highlight the key role ofthe original and actual state of the clay paste, and show the existence of a threshold of sandgrain concentration above which a structuring effect influences its permeability. In the light ofthese experiments some usual homogenization methods (with simplifying assumptions to make theproblem manageable) are considered in order to model the mixture permeability. Qualitative andquantitative comparisons with experimental data point out their respective domain of interest andlimitations of such approaches.