SoilMechanicsI

CE 222
CE222
WaterinSoil:Permeability

Flowofwaterthroughsoils
Thestructureofthesolidparticlesinanysoilwillalwayshave
voids.Thesevoidsprovidethewaterandairwithcontinuous
paths of flow
pathsofflow.
Theflowwillaffectboththestructureandstabilityofthesoil
mass. For example, the flow of water through an earth dam
mass.Forexample,theflowofwaterthroughanearthdam
willeventuallycreatelargerandlargerpaths,muchlikepipes,
thatcouldeventuallyleadtothecollapseoftheentire
structure.
structure
Loosesoil
Densesoil

water

Flowofwaterthroughsoils
Th
Thestudyofthebehavioroftheflowofwaterand
t d f th b h i
f th fl
f t
d
airthroughsoilsisofgreatimportanceinthefieldof
soil and rock mechanics
soilandrockmechanics.
Ingeneral,therearetwogeneralconditionsofflow:
Steadystate,and
Transientflow.

Steadyandunsteadyflow

Thetermsteadystateconditionmeansasystemhasreached
equilibrium.
In
Ingroundwateranalyses,itmeanstheflowpatternhasbeenestablished
groundwater analyses it means the flow pattern has been established
andisnotinprocessofchanging.Thisconditioniscalledsteadyflowor
steadystateflow.
Theunsteadycondition(ortransientcondition)existswhensomething
isinprocessofchanging.
During
Duringunsteadyflow,porewaterpressure,groundwatertablelocation,
unsteady flow pore water pressure groundwater table location
flowratearechanging.

Steadyandunsteadyflow

Formsofwaterinsoils
Adsorbedwaterinclays
Vapormoisture
Flowing ground water
Flowinggroundwater
Permeability
Seepagestudies
Seepage studies

Capillarymoisture

Hydrologicalcycle

Hydrologyisthestudyofwatermovementsacrosstheearth.Itincludes
assessmentsofrainfallintensities,streamflows,andlakewaterlevels,knownas
surfacewaterhydrology,aswellasstudiesofgroundwater,knownasgroundwater
h d l
hydrology.Thevariousmovementsarepartofgrandprocesscalledhydrologiccycle.
h
i
f
d
ll d h d l i
l

Groundwater
Subsurfacewatermaybedividedintotwosections:
Theportionbelowthegroundwatertableiscalledthe
phreaticzone.Thiswaterissubjectedtopositivepressure
asaresultoftheweightoftheoverlyingwater.Most
g
y g
subsurfacewaterisinthephreaticzone.
The
Theportionabovethegroundwatertableiscalledthe
portion above the groundwater table is called the
vadosezone.Thiswaterhasanegativepressure,andis
heldinplacebycapillaryactionandotherforcespresentt
in the soil
inthesoil.

Aquifersandaquicludes
Sandandgravelscantransmitlargequantitiesofgroundwater,knownasaquifers.
Claystransmitwaterveryslowly,knownasaquicludes.Intermediatesoils(suchas
siltysand)passwaterataslowtomoderateratearecalledaquitards.

Artesianandsurficial springs

10

Artesiansprings/wellsarewellsthatflowundertheirownpressure.
Theserequireaslopingpermeablelayerofrock(Aquifer)witha
recharge zone higher than the well
rechargezonehigherthanthewell.

Confinedaquifer
Confinedaquifer: Awaterbearinglayer,overlainand
underlain by far less permeable soils
underlainbyfarlesspermeablesoils.
standpipe

Waterlevelinaquifer

Clay,silt

11

BernoullisEquation

h =

Total
Total
head,h

w
Pressure
Pressure
head,hp

12

v
+
+ Z
2g
Velocity
Velocity
head,hv

Elevation
Elevation
head,hz

BernoullisequationwasnamedaftertheSwissmathematician
Danial Bernoulli(1700 1782).

BernoullisEquation

13

Applicationtosoilandrock
Theenergyofafluidis
made of:
madeof:
fluidparticle

Kineticenergy dueto
velocity
Z

Strainenergydueto
Strain energy due to
pressure
Datum

Potentialenergydue
P t ti l
d
toelevationwith
respect to datum
respecttodatum

BernoullisEquation

14

Applicationtosoilandrock
Expressingenergyinunitoflength:
fluidparticle

Velocityhead
+
Total head =
Totalhead

Pressurehead
+
Elevation head
Elevationhead

Datum

BernoullisEquation

15

Applicationtosoilandrock
Forflowthroughsoils,velocity(and
thusvelocityhead)isverysmall.
Th f
Therefore,
0

fluidparticle

Velocityhead
+
Total head =
Totalhead

Pressurehead
+
Elevation head
Elevationhead

Totalhead=Pressurehead+Elevationhead

Datum

Fieldinstrumentation
Anopenstandpipe
piezometer consists
piezometerconsists
ofaperforatedpipe
installedinaboring

16

Hydraulicgradient

17

Atanypointwithintheflowregime:
Pressurehead=porewaterpressure/
p
p
/w
Elevationhead=heightabovetheselecteddatum

H
Hydraulicgradient,i
dra lic gradient i betweenAandBisthetotal
bet een A and B is the total
headlossperunitlength.

TH A TH B
i=
l AB

water

A
lengthAB,alongthestreamline

Hydraulicgradient

18

Piezometric
Pi
ti
heads

Hydraulic
gradient,i
A
B

Effectofhydraulicgradientonvelocity
Inmostsoils,theflowofwaterthroughthevoidspaces
canbeconsideredlaminar,thusv i

19

Darcyslaw
In1856,Darcypublishedasimpleequationforthedischarge
velocityofwaterthroughsaturatedsoils,whichmaybe
expressed as
expressedas

v = ki

where v = dischargevelocity,whichisquantityofwaterflowing
inunittimethroughaunitgrosscrosssectionalarea
of soil at right angle angles to the direction of flow.
ofsoilatrightangleanglestothedirectionofflow.
k = hydraulicconductivity(alsocalledcoefficientof
pe eab ty)
permeability)
Theactualvelocityofwater(i.e.seepagevelocityvs)throughthe
p
g
g
y (
voidspacesisgreaterthandischargevelocityv(seenextslide
fordetails).

20

Dischargevel.v&seepagevel.vs relation

q = Av = Av vs

21

A = Av + As

q = ( Av + As )v = Av vs vs:seepagevel.l

Vv
1 +
(
(
Av + As )v ( Av + As )vL
v
Vv + Vs )v Vs
vs =
=
=
=
Vv
Av
Av L
Vv

Vs

v
1+ e 1
v

vs =
v = v =
vs =
n
n
e n

Example
Waterflowsthroughthesandfilterasshown
below

The
Thecrosssectionalarea&lengthofthesoilmass
cross sectional area & length of the soil mass
are0.250m2 &2.00m

The hydraulic head difference is 0.160 m

The coefficient of permeability is 6.90x10-4
m/s
Determine the flow rate of water through
the soil

S l ti
Solution

From previous equation

q = ki
h 0.160 m
i= =
= 0.0800
L 2.00 m
q = (6.90 10 4 m/s)(0.0800)(0.250 m 2 )
= 1.38 10 5 m 3 /s

E
Example
l
In a soil test, it took 16.0 min for 1508 cm3
of water to flow through a sand sample
The cross-sectional area was 50.3 cm2
The void ratio of the soil sample
p was 0.68.
Determine

The

velocity of water through the soil

(apparent velocity)
Actual velocity/ Seepage velocity

S l ti
Solution
v = volume
ol me / time * area
v = 1508 / 16.0 * 50.3

= 1.874 cm//min
i = 0.0312cm/s
/
v(1+ e)
vactual =
e
(0.0312cm/s)(1+ 0.68)
vactual =
= 0.0771cm/s
/
0.68

Hydraulicconductivity
Thehydraulicconductivity,k,inDarcysLawdescribesthe
easewithwhichacertainliquidflowsthroughacertainsoil.It
d
dependsonseveralfactorsincluding:
d
lf
l d
Soilproperties:
Voidsize(dependsonparticlesize,gradation,voidratio,andother
factors)
Soilstructure
Voidcontinuity
Particleshapeandsurfaceroughness
Degreeofsoilsaturation
Degree of soil saturation

Liquidproperties:
Density
viscosity

27

Typicalvaluesofhydraulicconductivity

28

Importanceofpermeability
Thefollowingapplicationsillustratetheimportance
ofpermeabilityingeotechnicaldesign:
p
y g
g
Permeabilityinfluencestherateofsettlementofsaturated
soils under load.
soilsunderload.
Thedesignofearthdamsisverymuchbaseduponthe
permeability of soils used
permeabilityofsoilsused.
Thestabilityofslopesandretainingstructurescanbe
greatl affected b the permeabilit of the soils in ol ed
greatlyaffectedbythepermeabilityofthesoilsinvolved.
Filtersmadeofsoilsaredesignedbasedupontheir
permeability.
bl

29

Useofpermeability
Knowledgeofpermeabilitypropertiesofsoilsis
necessaryfor:
y
Estimatingthequantityofundergroundseepage;
Solvingproblemsinvolvingpumpingseepagewaterfrom
constructionexcavation;
Stabilityanalysesofearthstructureandearthretaining
wallssubjectedtoseepageforces.

30

Lab.DeterminationofHydraulicconductivity

Twostandardlaboratorytestsareusedto
y
y
determinethehydraulicconductivityofsoil:
Theconstantheadtest(suitableforgranularsoils)
Thefallingheadtest(suitableforclayeysoils)

31

Constantheadtest

32

Thetotalvolumeofwatercollectedis

Q = Avt = A (ki ) t

Q =volumeofwatercollected
A =xsecareaofsoilspecimen
t =durationofwatercollection
t
d ti
f t
ll ti

h
i=
L

h
Q = A k t
L

QL
k=
Aht

Fallingheadtest

33

Flowrate,qisdefinedasQ/t

Q
h
q = = A k
t
L
dh
q = a
Also
Also
dt
dh
h
Fromaboveeqs.
q
A k = a
dt
L

h
Q = A k t
L

q =flowrate(flowperunittime)
aa ==xsecareaofstandpipe
xsec area of standpipe
A =xsecareaofsoilspecimen

Rearranging

dt =

aL dh

Ak h

Fallingheadtest

34

aL dh
dt =

Ak h
Lettheheadish1 att=0,andh2 at
t=t
Integratingleftsidewithlimitsfrom
0totandtherightsidewithlimits
fromh1 toh2

aL
h1
t=
loge
Ak
h2

Re arranging
Rearranging

aL
h1
k=
loge
At
h2

Empiricalrelationsforhydraulicconductivity

35

Forfairlyuniformsand(i.e.,sandwithasmalluniformitycoefficient
cu),Hazen(1930)proposedanempiricalrelationshipforhydraulic
conductivity in the form
conductivityintheform

k (cm/sec) = cD102
wherec=aconstantthatvariesfrom1.0to1.5,andD10 =the
effective size, in mm.
effectivesize,inmm.
AboveequationisbasedonHazensobservationsofloose,clean,
filter sands
filtersands.

Equivalenthydraulicconductivity

instratifiedsoils

FromDarcyslaw

36

Totalflowissumofflowsthrueachlayer

Equivalenthydraulicconductivity

instratifiedsoils

Thevelocityofflowthrualllayersissame

Totalheadloss,h,isequaltosumofhead
lossesinalllayers

FromDarcyslaw

37

Equivalenthydraulicconductivity

instratifiedsoils

(i)

Above equation can be written as

Aboveequationcanbewrittenas

(ii)
SolvingEq.(i)and(ii)

38

Varved soil

39

Varved soil
Varve depositsattributedto GlacialLakeMissoula, Montana,USA.

40

Hydraulicconductivityofcompactedclayeysoils

41

Followingobservationsaremade
fromtestresults:
Forsimilarcompactioneffort
andmoldingmoisturecontent,
th
themagnitudeofkdecreases
it d f k d
withthedecreaseinclodsize.
Foragivencompactioneffort,
kdecreaseswithincreasein
g
moldingmoisturecontent.

Hydraulicconductivityofcompactedclayeysoils

42

Forsimilarcompaction
p
effortanddryunit
weight,asoilwillhave
a lower hydraulic
alowerhydraulic
conductivitywhenitis
compactedonthewet
sideoftheoptimum
d f h
moisturecontent.

Fieldcompactionconsiderations
Patternofflowthroughacompactedclaywith
improperbondingbetweenlifts

43

Fieldpermeabilitytest:wellpumpingtest

44

Wellpumpingtest
h
Q = A k t
L

Flowrate,qisdefinedasQ/t

45

Q
h
q = = A k
t
L

Theexpressionfortheflowrateofgroundwaterintothewell,whichis
The
e pression for the flow rate of groundwater into the ell hich is
equaltotherateofdischargefrompumping,canbewrittenas

dh
q = A k
dr

dh
q = (2rh ) k
dr

2k 2
d
dr
r r = q h h dh
1
1

r2

Integrating

r1
q log e
r2

k=
h12 h22

Wellpumpingtest confinedaquifer

Waterenteringintowell

46

Wellpumpingtest confinedaquifer
Becausewatercanenterthetestwell
onlyfromtheaquiferofthicknessH,
thesteadystateofdischargeis

dh
q = (2rH ) k
dr
ddr 2kH
r r = q
1

r2

dh
r1
r2

r1
q log e
r2

k=
2H (h1 h2 )

47