Scribd
Upload
89 views11 pages

CH 7-Part1

The document discusses the calculation of groundwater flow through soil using flow nets. It introduces the concept of a flow net, which is based on Laplace's equation of continuity that governs steady flow. A flow net consists of a combination of flow lines, along which water particles travel, and equipotential lines, along which the potential head is equal. The flow net approach allows calculating the total rate of flow through the soil per unit length by considering the number and properties of flow channels between flow and equipotential lines in the net.

Uploaded by

Zahi Alkhaled
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
89 views11 pages

CH 7-Part1

The document discusses the calculation of groundwater flow through soil using flow nets. It introduces the concept of a flow net, which is based on Laplace's equation of continuity that governs steady flow. A flow net consists of a combination of flow lines, along which water particles travel, and equipotential lines, along which the potential head is equal. The flow net approach allows calculating the total rate of flow through the soil per unit length by considering the number and properties of flow channels between flow and equipotential lines in the net.

Uploaded by

Zahi Alkhaled
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 11

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. The concept of the flow net is based on Laplace’s equation of continuity, which
governs the steady flow condition for a given point in the soil mass.

The steady-state flow of water from the


upstream to the downstream side through
the permeable layer is a two-dimensional
flow.

Let vx and vz be the components of the


discharge velocity in the horizontal and
vertical directions, respectively.

1
Assuming that water is incompressible and that
no volume change in the soil mass occurs, we
know that the total rate of inflow should equal
the total rate of outflow. Thus,

2
• let us consider a one-dimensional flow problem
• constant head is maintained across a two-layered
soil for the flow of water.
• The head difference between the top of soil layer
no. 1 and the bottom of soil layer no. 2 is h1

Because the flow is in only the z direction, the


continuity equation is simplified to the form

3
4
5
The continuity equation in an isotropic medium represents two orthogonal families of
curves—that is, the flow lines and the equipotential lines. A flow line is a line along which a
water particle will travel from upstream to the downstream side in the permeable soil
medium. An equipotential line is 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.

6
A combination of a number of flow lines and equipotential lines is called a flow net.

7
In any flow net, the strip between any two adjacent flow lines is called a flow channel.

If the flow elements are drawn as approximate squares, the drop in the piezometric level
between any two adjacent equipotential lines is the same. This is called the potential drop.

If the number of flow channels in a flow net is equal to Nf, the total rate of flow through all
the channels per unit length can be given by
8
Although drawing square elements for a flow net is convenient, it is not always necessary.
Alternatively, one can draw a rectangular mesh for a flow channel provided that the width-to-
length ratios for all the rectangular elements in the flow net are the same.

9
10
11

You might also like