SEEPAGE PROBLEMS PART 1: CONFINED FLOW PROBLEMS

CE 162 1st Semester 2013-2014

OVERVIEW
Continuity Equation & Laplaces Equation Flow Nets Seepage calculations from flow nets Flows nets in anisotropic soils Uplift Pressures Erosion and Piping

CE 216 Geotechnical Engineering I 1st Sem. 2013-2014

CONTINUITY EQUATION

Continuity Equation

Continuity Equation
h h v = ki = k h = k ex + ey x y h h Dq = v = k 2 + 2 = 0 y x
2 2

h = 0 = ex + ey x y
2

CE 216 Geotechnical Engineering I 1st Sem. 2013-2014

FLOW NETS IN ISOTROPIC SOILS

Flow Nets
Boundary Types (Drawn in ink)
Head (Dirichlet/Essential) Flow (Neuman/Natural)

Flow Net lines (Drawn in pencil)

Equipotential lines Flow lines Equipotential lines perpendicular to flow lines

Elements/Cells : region bounded by 2 parallel flow lines and 2 parallel equipotential lines.

Flow Net

Flow Net

Flow Net Techniques

Limit number of flow channels to 3. Rotate problem to check compliance with square and perpendicular conditions. Limit partial drops to 1. Subdivide elements in half
Infinite element (2 sides) 3-sided irregular element 5-sided irregular element

Constructing flow nets

Draw problem boundaries to scale in ink. Draw flow lines. Draw equipotential lines Repeatedly adjust flow lines and equipotential lines until flow net are roughly perpendicular to each other and elements are approximately square.

CE 216 Geotechnical Engineering I 1st Sem. 2013-2014

BASIC FLOW NET COMPUTATIONS

Rate of Seepage
nf q = k DH nd where q = flow rate per unit width k = permeability DH = head drop per equipotential line n f = number of flow channels nd = number of drops

Computing pore pressures

Given a point within the flow net, extrapolate the head and elevation relative to the datum. Note prescribed heads and elevation should be measured to the datum. Use definition of hydraulic head to compute the pore pressure

u = g w ( h - z)

Computing hydraulic gradients

For a given point within the flow net, use the subdivision technique to create an reduced element in which the point is roughly in the center. Compute the head drop within the subdivided element. Estimate with length of distance along the direction of flow in the reduced element. Divide the head drop by the flow distance to estimate the hydraulic gradient.

CE 216 Geotechnical Engineering I 1st Sem. 2013-2014

FLOW NETS IN ANISOTROPIC SOILS

Flow nets in anisotropic soils

k h = 0

h h h h k + k + k + k =0 xx xy yx yy x x y y x y kxx 2 h 2 h + 2 =0 2 kyy x y kyy x =kx kxx x = =k x x x x

2 2 2 = k x2 x 2

2 h 2 h kxx 2 + kyy 2 = 0 x y 2 h 2 h + 2 =0 x= 2 x y

Flow nets in anisotropic soils

Scale in the direction of minimum permeability needs to be stretched by the scale factor. Computations involving rate of seepage can be directly made from the flow net in the stretched scale.

nf q = kmin kmax DH Flow net must be redrawn into equal nd scale in order to compute pore pressures and hydraulic gradients.

Flow nets in anisotropic soils

Flow nets in anisotropic soils

CE 216 Geotechnical Engineering I 1st Sem. 2013-2014

UPLIFT PRESSURE ON STRUCTURES

CE 216 Geotechnical Engineering I 1st Sem. 2013-2014

SEEPAGE FORCES

CE 266 Earth Structures 1st Sem. 2012-2013

EROSION AND PIPING

THE END THANK YOU

CE 162 1st Semester 2013-2014