1

7. FLOW NETS FOR ANISOTROPIC MATERIALS 7.1 Introduction Many soils are formed in horizontal layers as a result of sedimentation through water. Because of seasonal variations such deposits tend to be horizontally layered and this results in different permeabilities in the horizontal and vertical directions. 7.2 Permeability of Layered Deposits Consider the horizontally layered deposit, shown in Figure 1, which consists of pairs of layers the first of which has a permeability of k1 and a thickness of d1 overlaying a second which has permeability k2 and thickness d2.

k=k1

d1

k=k2

d2

Fig. 1 Layered soil deposit

Fig. 1 Layered Soil

First consider horizontal flow in the system and suppose that a head difference of h exists between the left and right hand sides as indicated in Fig. 2. It then follows from Darcys law that:
v1 and v2 = k2 = k1 h L h L ; ; Q1 Q2 = = k1 k2 h d1 L h d2 L
h= h0 h

(1a) (1b)

h =h0

v=v1

d1

v=v2

d2

L Fig. 22 Horizontal a layered soil soil deposit Fig. Horizontalflow flow in through layered

It therefore follows: (2a)

v where

Q1 + Q 2 d1 + d 2 k1d1 + k 2 d 2 d1 + d 2

h = kH L
(2b)

kH =

Next consider vertical flow through the system, shown in Fig.3. Suppose that the superficial velocity in each of the layers is v and that the head loss in layer 1 is h1, while the head loss in layer 2 is h2
h = h0

v
h = h 0 h1

d1

v
h = h 0 h1 h 2

d2

Fig. 3 Vertical flow through layered soil

Fig. 3Vertical flow in a layered soil deposit

In layer 1: so

v = k1
h1 = v d1 k1

h 1 d1
(3a)
v d2 k2

Similarly in layer 2

v = k2

h 2 d2

and h 2 =

(3b)

The total head loss across the system will be h=h1+h2 and the hydraulic gradient will be given by:
v d1 v d 2 + k1 k2 h h1 + h 2 i = = = d d1 + d 2 d1 + d 2

(3c)

For vertical flow Darcys Law gives

v = kV h d

(3d)

and hence
d d d = 1 + 2 kV k1 k 2

(3e)

Example

Suppose that that the layers are of equal thickness d1 = d2 = d0 and that k1 = 10-8 m/sec and that k2 = 10-10 m/sec, then:
kH
8 10 d 10 + do 10 = o do + do

9 = 5.05 10 m/s

and
do + do 10 = 1.98 10 m / sec do do + 8 10 10 10 Showing that, as is generally the case, the vertical permeability is much less than the horizontal. kV =

7.3 Flow nets for soil with anisotropic permeability Plane flow in an anisotropic material having a horizontal permeability k H and a vertical permeability kv is governed by the equation:
kH 2 h 2h + k =0 V x 2 z 2

(4)

The solution of this equation can be reduced to that of flow in an isotropic material by the following simple device. Introduce new variables defined as follows:
x and z = z = x

(5a)

the seepage equation then becomes

kH 2h 2h + =0 2 k V x 2 z 2

(5b)

Thus by choosing:
= kH kV

(5c)

It is found that the equation governing flow in an anisotropic soil reduces to that for an isotropic soil, viz.:
2 h 2h + =0 x 2 z 2

(5d)

and so the flow in anisotropic soil can be analysed using the same methods (including sketching flow nets) that are used for analysing isotropic soils. Example - Seepage in an anisotropic soil

Suppose we wish to calculate the flow under the dam shown in Figure 4;

H1 z x

Impermeable dam

H2 Z

L Soil layer Impermeable bedrock

Fig. 4 Dam on a permeable soil layer over impermeable rock (natural scale)

For the soil shown in Fig. (4) it is found that k H = 4 k V and therefore

= so x z

4 kV kV = 2x =z

=2 or x x= 2
(6)

In terms of transformed co-ordinates this becomes as shown in Figure 5

H1 z
x

H2 L/2 Soil layer Impermeable bedrock Z

Fig. 5 Dam on a permeable layer over impermeable rock (transformed scale) The flow net can now be drawn in the transformed co-ordinates and this is shown in Fig.6

5m

Impermeable bedrock Fig. 6 Flow-net transformed coordinates

Fig. 6 Flow net for the transformed geometry It is possible to use the flow net in the transformed space to calculate the flow underneath the dam by introducing an equivalent permeability
k eq = kH kV

(7)

A rigorous proof of this result will not be given here, but it can be demonstrated to work for purely horizontal flow as follows:

h Q
Natural scale

h- h t

h- h
transformed scale

x
Fig. 7 Horizontal flow through anisotropic soil
Q = kH t h x

x
(7a)

For the natural scale For the transformed scale

Q = k eq t h h k H = k eq t x x kV
kH kV

(7b)

From Equations 7a and b it can be seen that k eq = Example

Suppose that in Figure 6 H1 = 13m and H2 = 2.5m, and that kv = 10-6 m/sec and kH =4 10-6 m/sec The equivalent permeability is:
k eq = ( 4 10 6 ) (10 6 ) = 2 10 6 m / sec

(8a)

The total head drop is 10.5 m and there are 14 head drops and thus:
h = (13 2.5) = 0.75 m 14

(8b)

The flow through each flow tube, Q = keq h = (210-6 )(0.75) = 1.5 10-6 m3/s/m There are 6 flow tubes and so the total flow , Q = 6 1.5 10-6 = 9.010-6 m3/sec/(m width of dam) Q = 450 10-6 m3/sec = 41.47 m3/day

For a dam with a width of 50 m 7.4 Piping

Many dams on soil foundations have failed because of the sudden formation of a piped shaped discharge channel. As the store water rushes out the channel widens and catastrophic failure results. This results from erosion of fine particles due to water flow. Another situation where flow can cause failure is in producing quicksand conditions. This is also often referred to as piping failure. In order to analyse this situation consider water flowing upwards through the element shown in Figure 8.
u2 (z=z2 , h=h2 , u=u2,) Elevation (z=z1 , h=h1 ,u=u1,) u1

Plan

Area =A

Fig. 7 Analysis Analysis Piping Fig. 8 of of Piping

Uplift Force Force due to weight

= =

A ( u1 u 2 ) A sat ( z2 z1 )

(9a)

The pore pressure can be calculated from the head and so:
u 2 = w ( h 2 z2 ) and u1 = w ( h1 z1 )

(9b)

For piping to occur the Uplift must be greater than the self-weight of the soil
A( u 2 u 1 ) w ( h 1 h 2 ) w (z 1 z 2 ) w (h1 h 2 ) (h1 h 2 ) (z 2 z 1 ) > > > > A sat ( z 2 z 1 ) sat ( z 2 z 1 ) sat ( z 2 z 1 ) w ( z 2 z 1 ) sat w w

(9c)

or alternatively
i where i and i crit = critical hydraulic gradient = sat w w = hydraulic gradient = h1 h 2 z 2 z1 > i crit

(9d)

Example Suppose the dam shown in Figure 6 is 39 metres wide (this may be determined from the scale drawing), the water levels are the same as in the previous example (H 1 = 13 m, H2 = 2.5 m), and the saturated unit weight of the soil is 18 kN/m3. Piping is most likely to occur at the toe of the dam, the hydraulic gradient there can be obtained from the flow net: h1 - h2 = h = 0.75 m z2 - z1 = 1.125 m thus
i = 0.75 = 0.67 1125 . 18 9.81 = 0.83 9.81

(calculated from Fig. 6) (scaled from Fig. 6)

Now
i crit =

(10)

The safety factor against piping failure is thus icrit/i = 0.83/0.67 = 1.25 which is probably not adequate given the potentially disastrous consequences of a piping failure.