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Tute 2 Flow Nets Answers

This document contains three questions and solutions related to flow nets and seepage analysis. Question 1 involves calculating the seepage rate and uplift pressure on the base of a dam founded on permeable soil. Question 2 involves sketching a flow net for a cofferdam and determining seepage rates and water pressures. Question 3 involves transforming an anisotropic soil profile to account for different horizontal and vertical permeabilities and using the transformed flow net to calculate seepage and uplift forces on a weir foundation.

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529 views

Tute 2 Flow Nets Answers

This document contains three questions and solutions related to flow nets and seepage analysis. Question 1 involves calculating the seepage rate and uplift pressure on the base of a dam founded on permeable soil. Question 2 involves sketching a flow net for a cofferdam and determining seepage rates and water pressures. Question 3 involves transforming an anisotropic soil profile to account for different horizontal and vertical permeabilities and using the transformed flow net to calculate seepage and uplift forces on a weir foundation.

Uploaded by

lawan
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Tutorial sheet 2 Flow nets


Q1:
The figure below shows the cross section of a concrete dam founded on permeable soil, below which there is an
impermeable stratum. Make a flow net assuming the soil to be isotropic.
Calculate
a) the seepage rate under the dam if the permeability k = 12.5 x 10-3 mm/s, and
b) the uplift pressure on the base of the dam.

+13.5 m

1.5 m

0.0 m
-3.0 m
18 m

-18 m

Solution:
Draw as accurately as possible the flow net for the problem.

Determine the following


Number of flow lines
Number of equipotential drops

Nf = 12
Ne = 27

Seepage rate is given by

q kh

Nf
Ne

12.5 10 3
12 60 60 24 sec
(13.5 1.50)

3
27
day
10

q = 5.75 m3/day per metre run of dam


The pressure drop between adjacent equipotential lines is

13.5 1.5
0.444 m of water
27

Pressure head under base at upstream face

= (13.5-1.5) - 4 x 0.444 = 10.22 m head

Pressure head under base at downstream face

= (13.5-1.5) - 23 x 0.444 = 1.788 m head

From the shape of the flow net (uniform spacing of equipotentials) it can be seen that the drop in uplift pressure
between the two faces is linear as shown on the sketch above (you can of course calculate a few intermediate points)
The total uplift force/m run of dam is thus the area of the uplift pressure diagram
Uplift force =

10.22 1.788
18 10 1080kN
2

Q2:
The figure shows the cross section of a long cofferdam into which the flow can be considered as two dimensional.
Sketch the flow net for this situation.
The base of the soil stratum is at a considerable depth.
Determine the seepage into the cofferdam (per metre rum), if the water level inside is maintained at excavation level.
The permeability of the soil is 0.015m/s in every direction.
Using the flow net determine the distribution of water pressure both on the outside and inside of the sheet piling.
Express this pressure in metre head of water and indicate it on an adjacent plot.
Comment on the stability of the proposed structure.

1.8 m

7.25 m

3m

6.5 m
Solution: Example taken from Sutton H.C 'Solving problems in soil mechanics'

Q3:(Example taken from GE Barnes 'Soil Mechanics; Principles and Practice')


A concrete weir is to be placed on a sand deposit as shown below. The coefficients of permeability of the sand are
Horizontal
kh = 9 x 10-5 m/s
Vertical
kv = 1 x 10-5 m/s
Determine the quantity of flow in litres/minute emanating downstream and the uplift force (upthrust) acting on the
underside of the structure.

15.0 m

5.0 m

3.2 m
7.2 m

The soil is anisotropic with respect to permeability so the cross-section must be drawn to a transformed scale by
reducing the horizontal dimensions by the factor k v / k h and maintaining the vertical dimensions. A 'square' flow net
is then drawn to the transformed cross-section as below.

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