Professional Documents
Culture Documents
N. Sivakugan
Flow Nets
Philip B. Bedient
Civil & Environmental Engineering
Rice University
1
Flow Nets
Copyright2001
What is permeability?
A measure of how easily a fluid (e.g., water)
can pass through a porous medium (e.g.,
soils)
water
Loose soil
Dense soil
- easy to flow
- difficult to flow
- high permeability
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- low permeability 3
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Bernoullis Equation
The energy of a fluid particle is
made of:
1. Kinetic energy
fluid particle
- due to velocity
2. Strain energy
- due to pressure
datum
3. Potential energy
- due to elevation (z) with respect to a datum
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Bernoullis Equation
Expressing energy in unit of length:
Velocity head
+
Total head =
Pressure head
+
fluid particle
datum
Elevation head
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Bernoullis Equation
For flow through soils, velocity (and thus
velocity head) is very small. Therefore,
Velocity head
+
Total head =
Pressure head
+
fluid particle
datum
Elevation head
Total head = Pressure head + Elevation head
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Some Notes
If flow is from A to B, total head is higher at
A than at B.
Energy is dissipated in
overcoming the soil
resistance and hence
is the head loss.
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water
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Some Notes
At any point within the flow regime:
Pressure head = pore water pressure/w
Elevation head = height above the selected datum
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Some Notes
Hydraulic gradient (i) between A and B is
the total head loss per unit length.
TH A TH B
i
l AB
water
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Darcys Law
Velocity (v) of flow is proportional to the
hydraulic gradient (i) Darcy (1856)
v=ki
Permeability
or hydraulic conductivity
unit of velocity (cm/s) (ft/S)
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filter
riprap
CORE
SHELL
SHELL
blanket
cutoff
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FOUNDATION
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103
silts
Fines
100
sands
gravels
Coarse
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2.
3.
4.
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Stre
am t
ube
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h1
dm
h2
dl
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Substitution yields:
q = K( d m x dl )( H/n )
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where:
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Drawing Method:
1. Draw to a convenient scale the cross
sections of the structure, water
elevations, and aquifer profiles.
2. Establish boundary conditions and draw
one or two flow lines
and
equipotential lines
near the
boundaries.
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Method:
3. Sketch intermediate flow lines and
equipotential lines by smooth curves
adhering to right-angle intersections and
square grids. Where flow direction is a
straight line, flow lines are an equal distance
apart and parallel.
4. Continue sketching until a problem
develops. Each problem will indicate
changes to be made in the entire net.
Successive trials will result in a reasonably
consistent flow net.
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Method:
5.
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Ku / K l = 1 / 50
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Flow nets for seepage from one side of a channel through two
different anisotropic two-layer systems. (a)
K u / K l = 1/50 . (b)
26
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K u / K l = 50 . Source: Todd & Bear, 1961.
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Radial Flow:
Water-
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Streamlines
are at right
angles to
equipotential
lines
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A B C D
G H
Dist ance
f rom
f ront t oe
( f t)
22
3 7 .5
50
6 2 .5
75
86
94
100
1 6 .5
1. 2
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m=5
n = 17
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q = ( m /n ) K h
= (5/17)(150)(35)
= 1544 ft 3 /day per ft
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http://homepage.eircom.net/~jmcgeever/Soil%20Mechanics/Soil%20Permeability%20-%20Flow%20Nets.htm
Copyright2001
hw
At X,
z
X
soil
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v = whw +
satz
u = w (hw + z)
'
'
v = z
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v = whw +
satz as for static case
u = w hw + w(L-hL)
(z/L)
= w hw + w(z-iz)
= w (hw+z) - wiz
flow
hL
u = w hw
hw
z
X
soil
u = w (hw+Lh )
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At X,
v = whw +
satz as for static case
u = w hw + w(L+hL)
(z/L)
= w hw + w(z+iz)
= w (hw+z) + wiz
hL
u = w
hw
hw
z
X
soil
u = w
(hw+L+hL)38
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'
wz i
w
flow
hL
hw
L
If i > ic, the effective stresses is negative.
z
X
soil
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Seepage Terminology
concrete dam
TH = 0
soil
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impervious strata
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Seepage Terminology
hL
datum
TH = hL
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concrete dam
TH=0.8
hL
impervious strata
TH = 0
soil
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Flownet
concrete dam
curvilinear
square
90
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impervious strata
soil
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Q khL
Nf
Nd
# of flow channels
.per unit length normal to the plane
# of equipotential drops
h
concrete
dam
impervious strata
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Heads at a Point X
hL
Nd
h
TH = hL
concrete
dam
L datum
TH = 0
z
X
h
impervious strata
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iexit
h
Ldatum
concrete
dam
soil
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impervious strata
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h
Ldatum
concrete
dam
soil
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impervious strata
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Fpiping
concrete
dam
ic
iexit
typically 5-6
soil
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impervious strata
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Piping Failures
Baldwin Hills Dam after it failed by
piping in 1963. The failure occurred
when a concentrated leak developed
along a crack in the embankment,
eroding the embankment fill and
forming this crevasse. An alarm was
raised about four hours before the
failure and thousands of people were
evacuated from the area below the
dam. The flood that resulted when the
dam failed and the reservoir was
released caused several millions of
dollars in damage.
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Piping Failures
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Filters
Used for:
facilitating drainage
preventing fines from being washed away
Used in:
earth dams
retaining walls
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Filter Materials:
granular soils
geotextiless
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granular filter
Retention Criteria
- to prevent washing out of fines
Permeability Criteria
- to facilitate drainage and thus avoid
build-up of pore pressures
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Permeability criteria:
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weep hole
geosynthetics
granular soil
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drain pipe
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del operator
i
j
k
x
y
z
w w
w
w i
j
k
x
y
z
v1
v2
v3
v
x
y
z
Gradient:
Divergence:
Laplacian:
Diffusion Equation:
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2
2
2
f
2
f
2
2
x
y
z2
h
Ss K 2h
t
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del operator
i
j
k
x
y
z
w w
w
w i
j
k
x
y
z
v1
v2
v3
v
x
y
z
Gradient:
Divergence:
Laplacian:
Diffusion Equation:
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2
2
2
f
2
f
2
2
x
y
z2
h
Ss K 2h
t
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Diffusion Equation
Cartesian Coordinates
h
Ss K 2h
t
2h + 2h + 2h = S s h
K t
x2 y2 z2
Cylindrical Coordinates
Cylindrical Coordinates,
Radial Symmetry h/= 0
Cylindrical Coordinates,
Purely Radial Flow
h/= 0 h/z = 0
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1 rh + 1 2 h + 2h = S s h
r r r r2 2 z2
K t
2h
Kr
Kr
+ r
r
2
2h + 1
r2 r
h
r
h
r
+ Kz h2 = Ss h
z
t
Ss h
= K
r t
S h
T t
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Plan view
River Channel
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