Determination of erosion characteristics is of great significance to assess the stability of geotechnical infrastructures that are subjected to seepage. Hole erosion tests (HETs) are the popular and simple laboratory measurements that have been used to determine erosion characteristics. These tests are indicative of the quantity of soil loss in term of internal erosion that can occur during seepage. It is noted that there are not many studies that focus on the development of theoretical model describing the erosion process (i.e. sediment detachment and transport) in HETs. The aim of this study is to propose a theoretical model based on Bernoulli’s principle to interpret the erosion measurements from HETs and employ the results for estimating erosion characteristics of soils. An analytical equation was deduced from a physically based model incorporating Bernoulli’s principle and erosion constitutive law for internal erosion within a soil pipe driven by pressure gradient. The analytical equation could be applied to determine the temporal development of eroded soil loss, radial erosion propagation, erosion rate, hydraulic shear stress, and pressure drop. The utility of proposed analytical solution was validated using a series of HETs performed in this study. Based on the novel analytical solution, erosion characteristics could be derived from the known realistic propagation of radial erosion.