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Seepage Analysis

This document discusses seepage analysis through permeable media like soil. Seepage occurs due to gravity-driven flow of water from high to low pressure areas. Flow nets can be used to model seepage by showing flow lines and equipotential lines. Flow nets ensure flow and equipotential lines are perpendicular and discharge is constant between flow lines and head change is constant between equipotential lines. Various methods can be used to draw flow nets including graphical, electrical analogy, and solving Laplace's equation. Flow nets are also used to model seepage in earth dams with configurations like horizontal or sloping faces. Characteristics of the phreatic surface and flow distribution are evaluated.

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772 views

Seepage Analysis

This document discusses seepage analysis through permeable media like soil. Seepage occurs due to gravity-driven flow of water from high to low pressure areas. Flow nets can be used to model seepage by showing flow lines and equipotential lines. Flow nets ensure flow and equipotential lines are perpendicular and discharge is constant between flow lines and head change is constant between equipotential lines. Various methods can be used to draw flow nets including graphical, electrical analogy, and solving Laplace's equation. Flow nets are also used to model seepage in earth dams with configurations like horizontal or sloping faces. Characteristics of the phreatic surface and flow distribution are evaluated.

Uploaded by

vscmourya
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Seepage Analysis

Seepage
Seepage is flow of water under
gravitational
force
in
permeable
medium.
Seepage occurs through the soils
when water pressure on one side is
greater than other side, i.e. water
flows from a point of high head to low
head.
The flow is generally laminar.

Flow nets

Flow nets is combination of the flow lines


and equipotential lines.
Flow lines represents the path taken by
water particle through the soil.
Equipotential lines are the lines
connecting the points of equal total
heads on different flow lines.
Flow
net
gives
the
pictorial
representation of path taken by water
particles and head variation along that
path.

Characteristics of flow net


Flow and equipotential lines should be
right angles.
Discharge between any two adjacent
flow lines is constant and drop of b/w
any two equipotential lines is constant.
The ratio of length and width of each
field is constant. Generally this ratio
taken as unity for convenience.

Methods to draw flow nets


Graphical method
Electrical analogy method
Soil models
Plastic models
Solution of Laplace's equation

Flow net in earth dams


With horizontal filter
With sloping discharge face
With discharge angle less than 300
with discharge angle greater than 300
and less than 600
Non homogeneous dam

With horizontal
Unconfined flow
Impermeable boundary CD is a lower
boundary flow line
Upstream face AD is an equipotential
line of head h
Discharge face BC is an equipotential
line of head zero.
Fourth boundary of flow net is top flow
line (AB) which is not known.

Line AB is known as phreatic line or


seepage line, pressure on phreatic
line equal to atmospheric.
The phreatic surface connects points
at which the pressure head is zero.

The drain in a rolled clay dam will be


made of gravel, which has an
effectively infinite hydraulic
conductivity compared to that of the
clay, so far a finite quantity of flow in
the drain and a finite area of drain the
hydraulic gradient is effectively zero,
i.e. the drain is an equipotential

After knowing the phreatic line we


keep the starting points of
equipotential line on this.

Discharge

=
1

=

Total discharge =

atmospheric line
reservoir

drain
clay

Shale

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