Soil Mechanics

CVL 3413

Chapter 8
Seepage
Dr. Sari Abusharar
Assistant Professor
Civil Engineering Department
Faculty of Applied Engineering and Urban Planning

2nd Semester 2015-2016 1

 Outline of Presentation

Introduction

Flow Nets

Seepage Calculation from a Flow Net

Flow Nets in Anisotropic Soils

Uplift Pressure Under Hydraulic Structures

Seepage Through an Earth Dam on an Impervious Base

L. Casagrande’s Solution for Seepage Through an Earth Dam

Filter Design

2
 Introduction
In the preceding chapter, we considered some simple cases for
which direct application of Darcy’s law was required to calculate
the flow of water through soil.
In many instances, the flow of water through soil is not in one
direction only, nor is it uniform over the entire area
perpendicular to the flow.
In such cases, the groundwater flow is generally calculated by
the use of graphs referred to as flow nets.

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 Flow Nets
A flow line (‫ )خط الجريان‬is a line along which a water particle will
travel from upstream to the downstream side in the permeable soil
medium.

An equipotential line (‫ )خط تساوي الجھد‬is a line along which the

potential head at all points is equal. Thus, if piezometers are
placed at different points along an equipotential line, the water
level will rise to the same elevation in all of them.

To complete the graphic construction of a flow net, one must draw

the flow and equipotential lines in such a way that:

1. The equipotential lines intersect the flow lines at right angles.

2. The flow elements formed are approximate squares.
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 Flow Nets

Flow line

Equipotential
line

Nf :number of flow channels ‫عدد قنوات الجريان‬

Nd :number of potential drops ‫عدد الھبوطات في الجھد‬
5
 Flow Nets
Drawing a flow net takes several trials. While constructing the flow
net, keep the boundary conditions in mind. For the flow net shown
in Figure 8.3b, the following four boundary conditions apply:

Condition 1: The upstream and downstream surfaces of the

permeable layer (lines ab and de) are equipotential
lines.
Condition 2: Because ab and de are equipotential lines, all the flow
lines intersect them at right angles.
Condition 3: The boundary of the impervious layer—that is, line
fg—is a flow line, and so is the surface of the
impervious sheet pile, line acd.
Condition 4: The equipotential lines intersect acd and fg at right
angles.
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 Flow Nets
One more example of flow net in isotropic permeable layer are
given in Figure 8.4. In these figures, Nf is the number of flow
channels in the flow net, and Nd is the number of potential drops.

Nf :number of flow channels ‫عدد قنوات الجريان‬

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Nd :number of potential drops‫عدد الھبوطات في الجھد‬
Seepage Calculation from a Flow Net
 In any flow net, the strip between any two adjacent flow lines is
called a flow channel. Figure 8.5 shows a flow channel with the
equipotential lines forming square elements.
 Let h1, h2, h3, h4, . . ., hn be the piezometric levels corresponding to
the equipotential lines.

Case 1: square elements

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Seepage Calculation from a Flow Net

9
Seepage Calculation from a Flow Net

Although drawing square elements for a flow net is convenient, it

is not always necessary.

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Seepage Calculation from a Flow Net
Case 2: rectangular elements

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 Example

Figure 8.7 shows a flow net for seepage around a single row of
sheet piles. Note that flow channels 1 and 2 have square elements.
Hence, the rate of flow through these two channels can be
obtained from Eq. (8.20): 12
 Example

However, flow channel 3 has rectangular elements. These

elements have a width-to-length ratio of about 0.38; hence, from
Eq. (8.23):

So, the total rate of seepage can be given as:

13
Example

14
Example

15
Example

16
Example

17
Example

18
 Flow Nets in Anisotropic Soil
The flow-net construction described thus far and the derived Eqs.
(8.21) and (8.24) for seepage calculation have been based on the
assumption that the soil is isotropic. However, in nature, most soils
exhibit some degree of anisotropy. To account for soil anisotropy
with respect to hydraulic conductivity, we must modify the flow
net construction.

For anisotropic soils,

kx ≠ kz

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 Flow Nets in Anisotropic Soil
The differential equation of continuity for a two-dimensional flow

The rate of seepage per unit length can be calculated by modifying Eq.
(8.21) to

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 Flow Nets in Anisotropic Soil
To construct the flow net, use the following procedure:

Note that when flow nets are drawn in transformed sections (in
anisotropic soils), the flow lines and the equipotential lines are
orthogonal. However, when they are redrawn in a true section,
these lines are not at right angles to each other. This fact is shown in
Figure 8.8. In this figure, it is assumed that kx = 6kz. Figure 8.8a
shows a flow element in a transformed section. The flow element
has been redrawn in a true section in Figure 8.8b. 21
 Flow Nets in Anisotropic Soil
transformed section

kx = 6kz

true section

Figure 8.8 A
flow element in
anisotropic soil:
(a) in
transformed
section; (b) in
true section. 22
Example

23
 Example

h.scale = ( kz kx )v.scale
1
h.scale = v.scale
2
: 25 ft v.scale

1
h.scale =
2 25

24
transformed section
Example

25
Uplift Pressure Under Hydraulic Structures

26
Uplift Pressure Under Hydraulic Structures

27
Example

28
Example

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 Seepage Through an Earth Dam on an
Impervious Base
Figure below shows a homogeneous earth dam resting on an impervious base. Let
the hydraulic conductivity of the compacted material of which the earth dam is
made be equal to k. The free surface of the water passing through the dam is given
by abcd. It is assumed that a’bc is parabolic.

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Seepage Through an Earth Dam on an
Impervious Base

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 Seepage Through an Earth Dam on an
Impervious Base
Following is a step-by-step procedure to obtain the seepage rate q
(per unit length of the dam):

The preceding solution generally is referred to as Schaffernak’s

solution (1917) with Casagrande’s correction, since Casagrande
experimentally showed that the parabolic free surface starts from
a’, not a (Figure 8.13). 32
Example

33
Example

34
L. Casagrande’s Solution for Seepage
Through an Earth Dam

35
 Filter Design
When seepage water flows from a soil with relatively fine grains
into a coarser material, there is danger that the fine soil particles
may wash away into the coarse material. Over a period of time,
this process may clog the void spaces in the coarser material.
Hence, the grain-size distribution of the coarse material should be
properly manipulated to avoid this situation. A properly designed
coarser material is called a filter.

36
 Filter Design
For proper selection of the filter material, two conditions should
be kept in mind:
Condition 1: The size of the voids in the filter material should be
small enough to hold the larger particles of the
protected material in place.
Condition 2: The filter material should have a high hydraulic
conductivity to prevent buildup of large seepage
forces and hydrostatic pressures in the filters.

Terzaghi and Peck (1948) provided the following criteria to satisfy

Condition 1:

37
 Filter Design
In order to satisfy Condition 2, they suggested that:

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Filter Design

39
 Filter Design

The proper use of Eqs. (8.41) and (8.42) to determine the grain-size
distribution of soils used as filters is shown in Figure 8.17. Consider
the soil used for the construction of the earth dam shown in Figure
8.15. Let the grain-size distribution of this soil be given by curve a
in Figure 8.17. We can now determine 5D85(S) and 5D15(S) and plot
them as shown in Figure 8.17. The acceptable grain-size
distribution of the filter material will have to lie in the shaded
zone. (Note: The shape of curves b and c are approximately the
same as curve a.)

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HW # 7

Problems
8.2
8.7
8.8
8.9
8.10
41
42