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Seepage in Soils

This document provides information on a course titled "Seepage in Soils" including the instructor, teaching assistant, course objectives, assignments, exams, projects, topics to be covered, and examples of flow related problems such as internal erosion, blowout, uplift, heave, seepage erosion, and piping failures in earth embankments and dams.

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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
135 views18 pages

Seepage in Soils

This document provides information on a course titled "Seepage in Soils" including the instructor, teaching assistant, course objectives, assignments, exams, projects, topics to be covered, and examples of flow related problems such as internal erosion, blowout, uplift, heave, seepage erosion, and piping failures in earth embankments and dams.

Uploaded by

abcdef456
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Seepage in Soils

Instructor: Dr. Ana Mohseni


Lectures: MWF 5th period (11:45 – 12:35 pm) – Zoom Meeting
Office hours: T 6th Period (Zoom Meeting) [email protected]
1 TA: Sean Tromans
Office hours: R 5th period (Zoom Meeting)
[email protected]
2 Syllabus

❑ Description:
▪ Principles of flow
▪ Flow nets
▪ Hydraulic conductivity measurements
▪ Seepage analyses and control
▪ Earth embankment types
▪ Filter design
▪ Consolidation theory
▪ Computer applications using Seep/W and Slope/W
❑ Prerequisites: CEG 4011, CEG 4012
3 Syllabus

❑ Objectives:
▪ Assure students are able to:
▪ Analyze seepage in dams and embankments
▪ Are knowledgeable about types of dams
▪ Understand field and laboratory techniques for
hydraulic conductivity determination
▪ Use of computer software for seepage analyses
4 Syllabus
❑ Assignments:
▪ Homework (10%)
▪ 4 homeworks due at the beginning of class via Canvas

▪ No later than 11:55 AM

▪ No late homeworks

▪ These rules apply unless advance written notice has been


submitted to the instructor for valid excuses
▪ Exams (60%)
▪ Exam 1 – Formula sheet provided, no open notes
▪ Exam 2 – Open notes
▪ Evening exams from 8:20pm-10:00pm
▪ Proctored through Canvas using Zoom meeting
▪ Must have camera on during exam
5 Syllabus

❑ Learning project (10%)


▪ Individual
▪ Solve a problem using Slope/W and Seep/W with instructor’s assistance
▪ Technical report
❑ Final project (20%)
▪ Small groups
▪ Solving a seepage problem using Slope/W and Seep/W
independently
▪ Technical report and presentation
6 Syllabus

❑ Course outline (tentative)


▪ Introduction – Flow related problems
▪ Principles of flow
▪ Potential and kinetic energies of water mass: Bernoulli’s equation
▪ Hydraulic gradient
▪ Darcy’s law
▪ Hydraulic conductivity
▪ Empirical methods for determining k

▪ Laboratory methods for determining k

▪ Heterogeneity and anisotropy


7 Syllabus

❑ Flow Nets
▪ Concept of Flow Nets
▪ Mathematical Basis for Flow Nets
▪ Special Conditions:
▪ Anisotropy and layered heterogeneity
▪ Unconfined Flow

▪ Guidelines For Flow Net Construction


▪ Miscellaneous Flow Nets
8 Syllabus

❑ Two-dimensional flow: Analytical solutions


▪ Seepage through earth dams
❑ Seepage forces
▪ Effective stress principles
▪ Stresses in soils with seepage
▪ Seepage force and critical hydraulic gradients
▪ Role of seepage in structural stability
9 Syllabus

❑ Embankment dams
▪ Types of dam, selection
▪ Stability analyses
▪ Tailing dams
10 Syllabus

❑ Soil Filters and drainage layers


▪ Soil filter requirements
▪ Basic Filter design criteria
▪ Extended filter criteria
▪ Drainage criteria
▪ Laboratory test for filter design
▪ Case studies of filter failures
❑ Seepage control and dewatering
▪ Drainage methods
▪ Seepage cutoff methods
▪ Seepage control in earth dams
11 Syllabus

❑ Large Strain Consolidation Theory


▪ Seepage industrial consolidation tests
❑ Modeling software
▪ Seep/W
▪ Slope/W
12 FLOW RELATED PROBLEMS
❑ Internal Erosion Failure Modes
▪ One of the leading causes of embankment dam failure (“piping”)
▪ Can occur due to normal operations
▪ Higher risks to a dam than remote loading conditions (floods and
earthquakes)
13

Bureau of
Reclamation
14 Flow Related Problems

❑ Terzaghi and Peck (Soil Mechanics in Engineering Practice)


▪ “…the means at our disposal for preventing failures of these types (piping and
sliding) are more important than all the other features of the design of the dams,
and no “calculated risk” or even remote possibility of such failures can be tolerated.”
▪ “The failure of a dam by piping ranks among the most serious accidents incivil
engineering.”
15 Flow Related Problems

❑ Types of Seepage and Piping Problems


▪ Internal Erosion/Piping (“roofing”)
▪ Blowout (heave, uplift)
▪ Seepage Erosion
❑ Piping
▪ Subsurface erosion
▪ Conveyed through an open “pipe” in soil or rock under a roof of natural or
manmade materials
▪ Required Conditions
▪ Flow path/source of water
▪ Unprotected exit
▪ Erodible material in flow path
▪ Material to support a roof is present
16 Flow Related Problems

❑ Internal Erosion
▪ Particles removed to form a temporary void
▪ Void grows until a roof is no longer stable
▪ Material collapses into the void
▪ Temporarily stopping pipe development
▪ Failure
▪ Mechanism repeats itself
▪ Core is breached or
▪ Downstream slope is over-steepened
▪ Point of instability
17 Flow Related Problems

❑ Uplift, Blowout, Heave


▪ Result of excessive uplift pressures
▪ Usually occurs near an overlying impervious boundary
▪ Blowout = breach of the impervious boundary
▪ Can lead to stability issue
▪ Can be the initiating event for a piping mechanism
▪ Typically judged to occur upon first filling or when
reservoir reaches historic high
18 Flow Related Problems

❑ Seepage Erosion
▪ Failure as the result of loss of material from an erosional surface
▪ Crack through a dam
▪ Dam/foundation contact
▪ Downstream toe)

▪ Termed “scour” in some literature


▪ Could be rapid, or prolonged and gradual
▪ Erosion results in loss of reservoir through the eroded area

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