The State of the Practice of

Foundation Engineering
Seepage

Content
Introduction to Seepage
Excess Pore-pressure
Hydraulic Gradient and Darcys Law
Three Dimensional Seepage
Two Dimensional Seepage
Seepage Under a Long Sheet Pile Wall
Control of Seepage

Seepage Introduction
The slow escape of a liquid or gas through porous (permeable)
material or small holes under the gravitational force.

Excess Pore-pressure
Excess Pore-pressure is the pressure of the ground water held within
a soil or rock, in gaps between particles (i.e. pore) generated by the
loading of soil.
It is sudden increase in pore pressure within a soil due to rapidly
applied loading conditions (undrained loading).
Materials with low permeability such as clays, may exhibit this
behaviour.

 A simple apparatus Permeameter is used to investigate the one

dimensional flow of water through soil.
From the figure,
the total pore water pressure in A and B;

The difference between A and B is:

Hydraulic Gradient and Darcys Law

The slope of Hydraulic grade line is known as the Hydraulic Gradient.

Hydraulic gradient represents

the space rate of energy loss
per unit weight of water.

Darcys Law
Darcys law governs the flow of free water through the soil. It is the
relation between the hydraulic gradients and rates of flow of water.
Darcys law states that there is a linear relationship between hydraulic
gradient and velocity for any given soil.

 The area in the equation includes area of both void and solid.
If i=1 ( hydraulic gradient is unity) then, k = v .
(So, coefficient of permeability may be define as the velocity of the flow
which would occur under unit hydraulic gradient.)
Further, k depends on particle size, soil structure, shape of particle, void
ratio, properties of water etcetera.(from emperical equation)

 The actual velocity of water molecules along their narrow paths

through the specimen (as opposed to the smooth flowlines assumed
to pass through the entire space of the specimen) is called the
seepage velocity, vs. It can be measured by tracing the flow of dye
injected into the water. Its average value depends on the unknown
cross-sectional area of voids Av and equals Q/Avt.

Validity Of Darcys Law

The flow through the soil should be laminar. This depends upon the
dimension of interstices, which, in turn, depends upon the particle
size.
In case of fine soil the dimension of interstices is very small so the
flow is necessarily laminar.
For the flow through soils, it has been found that the flow is laminar if
Reynolds number is less than unity;

 Using Allen Hazens equation

It can be shown that the maximum diameter of the particle for the
laminar flow is about 0.5 mm. The value of critical Reynolds number of
unity is, however, conservative. It has been demonstrated that flow
remains laminar up to Reynolds number 75.
So, Darcys law is valid in clays, silt and fine sands but may not be
applicable for coarse sand, gravel and boulders.
The properties of soil should not change with time.

Three Dimensional Seepage

Darcys law is also applicable for resolved components of velocity and
hydraulic gradient.
By, mass conservation:
Inflow = outflow+ storage

Further, considering the permeability of soil not to be isotropic;

Substituting these values, we obtain

This is the general differential equation for excess pore-pressure causing

steady seepage in three dimensions.

Two Dimensional Seepage

In many real problem of soil mechanics, the condition are two
dimensional; case of seepage under a long sheet-pile wall or dam.
Considering two dimensional flow with k1 = k2 we obtain,

This equation is known as Laplaces equation which are represented

graphically by two families of orthogonal curves; one family forms the
equipotential and the other the flowlines.

Seepage Under a Long Sheet Pile Wall

Seepage flow can be obtain by various methods:

Model experiment in the laboratory
A model of the riverbed is constructed in a narrow tank with glass sides
which are perpendicular to the sheet pile.
The different water levels on each side are kept constant, with the
downstream level being just above the sandbed to ensure saturation.
Probes are placed through these transparent sides at convenient positions,
as for the permeameter, to record the excess pore-pressures and thereby
indicate the equipotentials.

 The flowlines can readily be obtained by inserting small quantities of

dye at points on the upstream surface of the sand and tracing their
subsequent paths. We can also measure the quantity of seepage that
occurs in a given time.
Boundary Conditions; (i) the upper surface of the sand on the
upstream side, AO, is an equipotential OPP',h= (ii) the upper surface
of the sand on the downstream side, OB, is also an equipotential
,0=(iii) the lower surface of the sand is a flowline, and (iv) the buried
surface of the sheet pile itself is a flowline

Electrical analogue
A analogue of the model can be constructed by cutting out a thin
sheet of some suitable conducting material to a profile identical to
the section of the sand including a slit, OP, to represent the sheet pile.
A potential is applied between the edges AO and OB; and
equipotentials can be traced by touching the conducting sheet with
an electrical probe connected to a Wheatstone bridge.
Graphical flownet
Graphical method is trial and error method.
Certain guiding principles are necessary such as the requirement that
the formation of the flownet is only proper when it is composed of
curvilinear squares

Control of Seepage
The substantial flow of seepage water may move soil solids and form a
pipe or channel through the ground, and there is also danger that
substantial pore-pressures will occur in ground and reduce stability
even when the seepage flow rate is negligibly small.

The first risk is reduced if a graded filter drain is formed in the ground,
in which seepage water flows under negligible hydraulic gradient. The
materials of such filters are sands and gravels, chosen to be stable
and made to resist movement of small particles by choosing a
succession of gradings which will not permit small particles from any
section of the filter to pass through the voids of the succeeding
section.

 For relieving pore-pressure the drains have a most important role.

Moreover, porous tipped pipe, porous walled pipe or porous-faced
layer can also be inserted to relieved pore-pressure.