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