A repeatable methodology was established to compare the response of a leak into water and a fully constrained porous media at three discrete pressures. Test case A, leak direct into water, replicated the setup used by Fox et al. (2014). Test case B, leak into a fully constrained porous media, utilised a geotextile fabric (STABLEMASS 115) with a permeability of 110 L/m²/s. A 125 mm wide strip of fabric was wrapped three times around the pipe (approximately 5 mm total thickness), centred about the longitudinal slit, with negligible load or deformation transferred to the pipe, confirmed by the active strain gauge recordings during preliminary testing. The fabric was self-securing due to the inherent material texture. The use of geotextile fabric provides a consistent and fully constrained boundary condition (porous media), mitigating the occurrence of complex physical phenomena such as soil consolidation and fluidisation. Three discrete test section pressures of approximately 10, 20 and 26 m (actual initial pressurisation values listed in Table 1), set by constant pump speeds, were defined during preliminary testing. The chosen values provided a feasible range of test pressure heads based on the maximum capacity of the available equipment (e.g. size of pump). Each test case followed a pre-defined sequential loading sequence; pressurisation phase to 10 m head for 1 h, de-pressurisation phase (zero pressure) for 2 h and then repeated for 20 and 26 m pressure heads. A third set of experiments was also run to explore the effects of actual ground media external to the pipe/leak.