4 thlecture

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4 DIMENSIONING AND STABILITY OF WEIR:
4. WEIR

Weir is subject to three groups of forces

1 Deriving
1- D i i Forces:
F D to
Due t water
t thrust
th t and
d affect
ff t horizontal
h i t l on the
th weir
i wall
ll

2- Scour : Due to falling surge causing scour of the bed soil resulting in a
scour holes at the down stream side of weir foundation
3- Seepage: Due to percolation of water in the underlaying permeable soil
bed causing buoyancy of the structure and erosion of bed soil at down
stream side of foundation
 SEEPAGE THROUGH PERMEABLE MATERIAL
Seepage Terminology
Stream line is simply the path of a water molecule From upstream to downstream,
total head steadily decreases along the stream line..

Flownet
A network of
selected stream
hL
lines and
equipotential lines. HA = hL
concrete dam HB = 0 Datum

Stream line

curvilinear
square
90º
90 Equipotential
q p line
soil
impervious strata
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Hydraulic gradient (i) between A and B is the total head loss per unit length.

TH A  TH B
i water
l AB

length AB, along the stream line B

A
Darcy’s Law
Velocity (v) of flow is proportional to the hydraulic gradient (i) – Darcy (1856)

v=ki
Permeability
• or hydraulic
y conductivityy
• unit of velocity (cm/s)
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LAPLACE’S EQUATION

૒‫ܐ‬ ૒‫ܐ‬
‫ ܠܙ‬ൌ ‫ܠ ܓ‬   and ‫ ܡܙ‬ൌ ‫ܡ ܓ‬
૒‫ܡ‬
 
૒‫ܠ‬
૒૛ ‫ܐ‬ ૒૛ ‫ܐ‬
‫ ܠ ܓ‬૒‫ ܠ‬૛ ൅ ‫ ܡ ܓ‬૒‫ ܡ‬૛ ൌ ૙   For isotropic soil, kx=ky=k

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TYPICAL CASES

1 – Dimensional Domain : ૒૛ ‫ܐ‬

  
૒‫ ܠ‬૛
૒‫ܐ‬
ൌ ࢏ ൌ ࢉ࢕࢔࢙࢚
૒‫ܠ‬
2 – Dimensional Domain :
૒૛ ‫ܐ‬ ૒૛ ‫ܐ‬
‫ ܠ‬૒‫ ܠ‬૛ ‫ ܡ‬૒‫ ܡ‬૛

3 – Dimensional Domain :
૒૛ ‫ܐ‬ ૒૛ ‫ܐ‬ ૒૛ ‫ܐ‬
‫ ܠ‬૒‫ ܠ‬૛ ‫ ܡ‬૒‫ ܡ‬૛ ‫ ܢ‬૒‫ ܢ‬૛  

and h is linear variation as, h = a + b x

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7
8
For curvelinear squares, a=b
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 # of flow channels
Nf
Q  khL ….per unit length normal to the plane
Nd
# of equipotential drops

head loss from upstream to

downstream

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Piping in Granular Soils
Piping in Granular Soils
At the downstream end of foundation, If iexit exceeds the critical hydraulic gradient (ic), firstly the soil
grains at exit get washed away. This phenomenon progresses towards the downstream, forming a
free passage of water (“pipe”).
Piping is a very serious problem. It leads to the failure of the structure and flooding which can
result in loss of lives.
h
Exit hydraulic gradient iexit 
l
ic
Factor of safety Fpiping 
h against piping iexit
datum Typically 5-10
WEIR
l h = total
head dropp

ic   '  submerged unit

no soil; all
water G 1
soil ' 
1 e
1
impervious strata
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QUICK SAND CONDITION,

v ' = 0 i=ic=‘
PIPING PHENOMENON WILL TAKE PLACE

v ' < 0 ic > i

Then
Then,

h h  1
i   ic L Lsafe   F  h
L ic  ic 
So, The Creep length, “the shortest stream line”, must not less than Lsafe
to e
ensure
su e sa
safty
ty aga
against
st p
piping
p g at DS
Soof tthe
e st
structure
uctu e floor.
oo

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1
10
2 3 9
4 5 6 7 8
 loss under the dam:
Seepage loss under the dam:

Nf 3
q  k .h.( )  10 6.9.  2.70 x10 6 m 3 / m.s
Ne 10

Exit Gradient:
h 9
h Ne
ie    10  0.45
L L 2
(   w )
i c  sat  h. w  L( sat   w ) Piping  !!!!
w
Total head at points A
p & B:
NA 1
hTA  hTo  h  21.0m  9.0m.  20.10m
Nf 10
NB 5
hTB  hTo  h  21.0m  9.0m.  16.50m
Nf 10
Pressure  head at points A & B:

hPA  hTA  hzA  20.10m  8.0m  12.10m

hPB  hTB  hzB  16.50m  8.0m  8.50m
Fontenelle Dam, USA (1965)
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Failure of Baldwin Hills Dam, 1963

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PIPING PHENOMENON

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