SOIL MECHANICS-I

Muhammad Usman Arshid

CIVIL ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT
UNIVERSITY OF ENGINEERING & TECHNOLOGY
TAXILA

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PERMEABILITY

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PERMEABILITY
• Permeability is defined as the property of soil which permits flow of
water through it.
• A soil is highly pervious when water can flow through it easily. E.g.
Gravels.
• In an impervious soil, the permeability is very low and water cannot
easily flow through it. E.g. Clays.

• Knowledge of Permeability is essential for:-

➢ Settlement of building
➢ Yield of wells
➢ Seepage through and below the earth structures
➢ Earth pressure
➢ Uplift pressure under hydraulic structure.
SOIL PERMEABILITY
The permeability of soils has a crucial effect
on the stability of foundations, seepage loss
through embankments of reservoirs,
drainage of subgrades, excavation of open
cuts in water bearing soils, rate of flow of
water into wells and many others.

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SOIL AS A POROUS MEDIA

So soil can be considered as a as a porous media

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 A material is said to be permeable

if
it contains continues voids.

Can any porous material be permeable?

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FACTORS AFFECTING PERMEABILITY OF SOILS
The following factors affect the permeability of soils:-
1. Particle size
2. Properties of pore fluid.
3. Void ratio of soil.
4. Shape of particles.
5. Structure of soil mass.
6. Degree of saturation.
7. Absorbed water.
8. Impurities in water.
Ww/ws 10
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 Pressure Head

hw=u/ɣw

Pore pressure at a given point (e.g. point A in the diagram) can be

measured by the height of water in a standpipe located at that point.
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 Elevation Head

To identify significant differences in pore pressure at different points,

we need to eliminate the effect of the points locations.
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 Elevation Head

The elevation head at any point is the vertical elevation of that point above
certain reference horizontal line called datum. Any horizontal plane can be
chosen as datum but in soil the bed rock is used for this purpose.
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 Total Head

Velocity head, hv

The total head h includes also velocity head h ; this head in soils is usually neglected.
However the velocity head must be considered when dealing with flow through pipe
and open channels.
It is the difference in total head that are important. The direction of flow depends
on these differences. Flow of pore water in soils is driven from positions of higher
total head towards positions of lower total head.
Example. In each diagram there are two points, a small distance Δs apart, hz1
and hz2 above datum.

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In the first diagram, the total heads are equal. The difference in pore pressure is
entirely due to the difference in altitude of the two points and the pore water has no
tendency to flow.
In the second diagram, the total heads are different. The
hydraulic gradient is i ≠ 0 and the pore water tends to flow.

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EXAMPLE 1
Solution No.1
 Volume Flow Rate (q)

The Discharge is calculated as the product of

• Flow velocity
• Total cross section Area

Q= V * A

Assume a column of soil and water flowing through.

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Volume Flow Rate (q)

The ratio of volume flow

rate q to the average area
of voids Av is called the
seepage velocity vs

Vs= q/Av

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WHO WAS DARCY?
◼ Henry Philibert Gaspard Darcy was born June 10, 1803
in Dijon, France.
◼ Admitted to the French School of Bridges and Roads in
Paris, part of the Corps of Bridges and Roads. After
graduation, he was eventually assigned by the Corps to a
position in Dijon.
◼ Made important contributions to flow and friction loss in
pipes, created an improved pitot tube design, and was the
first to claim the existence of a boundary layer in fluid flow.
◼ In 1856, carried out experiments while researching sand
filters that lead to Darcy’s Law.
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DARCY’S LAW
The law of flow of water through soil was first studied by Darcy in 1856.

The Darcy’s law is,

“For laminar flow through saturated soil mass, the discharge per unit time is
proportional to the hydraulic gradient”.
q = k.i.A
= k.i = v

v = k.i ……. Darcy’s Law

Where, q = Discharge per unit time (rate of flow)

A = Total c/s area of soil mass
i = Hydraulic gradient = h/L
k = Darcy’s coefficient of Permeability
v = Velocity of flow (discharge velocity)
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Higher Hydraulic Gradient i faster flow ? agree disagree

Higher coefficient of permeability k faster flow ? agree disagree

EXAMPLE NO.2
EXAMPLE NO.3
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SIVA
SEEPAGE CONTROL IN EARTH DAMS
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SIVA
DESIGN OF FILTERS
Copyright©2001

Filters
Used for:
❖ facilitating drainage

❖ preventing fines from being

washed away
Used Filter
in:
❖ earth Materials:
❖ granular
dams
❖ retaining ❖
soils
walls geotextile
ss
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SIVA
Copyright©2001

Granular Filter Design

Two major criteria: granular
filter

(a) Retention
Criteria
- to prevent washing out of fines

 Filter grains must not be

too coarse
(b) Permeability
Criteria
- to facilitate drainage and thus
avoid build-up of pore pressures

 Filter grains must not be

SIVA too fine 69
 DESIGN OF FILTERS

For the proper selection of the filter material, two conditions

should be kept in mind:

1. The size of the voids in the filter material should be small

enough to hold the larger particles of the protected material
in place.

2. The filter material should have a high permeability to

prevent building of large seepage forces and hydrostatic
pressure in the filter. Based on the experimental
investigation of protective filters, Bertram (1940) provided
the following criteria to satisfy the above condition:
 DESIGN OF FILTERS

(1)

(2
)

The proper use of equation 1 and 2 to determine

the grain-size distribution of soils used as filters is
shown in Figure. Consider the soil used for the
construction of the earth dam shown in Figure. Let
the grain-size distribution of this soil be given by
curve a.
 DESIGN OF FILTERS
The same principle can be adopted for determination of
the size limits for the rock layer to protect the filter
material from being washed away.

The U. S. Army (1971) requires the following conditions

for the design of filters.
1. For avoiding the movement of the particles of the protected soil:
2. For avoiding buildup of large seepage force
in the filter

3. The filter material should not have grain sizes

greater than 3 in (76.2 mm). (This is to avoid
segregation of particles in the filter.)
4. To avoid internal movement of fines in the filter,
it should have no more than 5% passing a No. 200
sieve.

5. When perforated pipes are used for collecting

seepage water, filters are also used around the
pipes to protect the fine-grained soil from being
washed into the pipes. To avoid the movement of
the filter material into the drain-pipe perforations,
the following additional conditions should be met:

DESIGN OF FILTERS
 THICKNESS OF FILTERS

Cedegren (1960) constructed several flow nets, to study the

condition of seepage into sloping filters placed at the
downstream side of earth dams. Based on this work, he
developed the chart given in Figure which allows us to
determine the minimum thickness of filter material, ,
required on the downstream side of an earth dam.
(Note that in Figure, KF is the coefficient of permeability of
the filter material, and KS is the coefficient of permeability of
the soil of the earth dam.)
Thickness of filter material on the downstream side of an
earth dam. [After H. R. Cedergren,
Seepage Requirement of Filters and Pervious Bases, J. Soil
Mech. Found. Div., ASCE, vol. 86, no. SM5 (part I), 1960.
Drainage Provisions in
Retaining Walls

weep
hole

geosynth
etics
granular
soil
drain
pipe
FLOW NETS

Bernoulli's Equation

For Seepage through soil:

Pore Water Pressure, kPa

u
h=z+
γw
 FLOW NETS

Total Head Loss, h in water seeping from A to B:

L

uA
hA
γw
h head loss
i = or uB
L distance over which head loss occurs γw
A
hB

B
zA
In terms of Bernouli: zB

 datum Hydraulic Gradient (Slope), i:

 FLOW NETS
Say we constructed a tank in the lab like this one.
The water would seep from the left chamber,
through the soil and into the right chamber.
The path of the flow would be curved as shown.

h The
energy
driving
the
seepage
h?
 FLOW NETS

Lines
Line ab ca and
is the
cefdupstream
are the equipotential
boundaries of
Line
If we bd the
stretch is the
tank,downstream equipotential
we have a mainly horizontal
boundary
channelboundary
this
where flowthechannel
total head is h
where
for the seepage flowthe
fromtotal head
the left is 0to
chamber
the right

h
 FLOW NETS

Inat
The
If
What
bd
ca
we
orderwater
hto
divide
would
= determine
h
0would
the
the rise
total
seepage
tohead
the thejourney
total be
same
at into
head level
the
andhalf
equally
on the
poreway
hydraulic
spaced
water drops
grade
pressuremark
atinline
(at
head
any from
points
then
point each
inx,
we yget
theof
or these
z)?
a flow
mass ofpoints.
net.we
soil
Each point
subdivide thehas
flowequal potential
channel and therefore
into smaller channelsthe
line through them is an “equipotential”.
half way mark

h=h h = 0.5h
x h=0

z
 FLOW NETS

If we recompressed the tank the flow net would look

something like this:
 CONSTRUCTION OF FLOW
NETS
To construct a flow net, you must start
Downstream Equipotential
with a scale drawing of the hydraulic Boundary
structure:
Upstream Equipotential Boundary

1. Draw Flow Channel Boundaries 2. Draw Equipotential Boundaries

CONSTRUCTION OF FLOW NETS
The
It mayNot
bottom
take all
flowelements
channel
several
The first trial:
are “square”
intersects
iterations the
to finally
come up withimpervious layer flow net.
a satisfactory
 CONSTRUCTION OF FLOW NETS
4. 6.
At The
5. pointpore
Using the water
given
P, the pressure,
scale,
total headtheis u10/12ths
P = (hp – head,
elevation zof
p)the
1.
To 3. Number
2.Downstream
determine
Show the equipotentials
free
total
the water
total
=(3.33+5.2)x9.8 head, head
= h as
surface
driving
83.3 at shown:
any
kPa
w
ispoint,
datum.
seepage. P
And head z is
driving
the final -5.2
the
Pversion m
is:seepage

h = 4.5-0.5 = 4.0m

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hP = 4.0  = 3.33m
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 FLOW NETS

Here’s some useful relationships:

1. Each channel carries an equal flow: ∆q = k∆h

2. Each drop in head is equal to: h
Δh =
Nd
where Nd is the number of partitions or drops in potential

3. The total flow carried: q = Nf∆q

where Nf is the number of flow channel partitions
Nf
4. Or, the total flow carried: q = kh
Nd
nd
5. And, the head at any point P: hp = h
where nd is equipotential number (0 at downstream FWS) Nd
CAPILLARITY
• Movement of soil moisture through small pores.
• Pores serve as capillary tubes and soil moisture rises above GWT.
• Water held in this manner is in a state of suction or negative pressure.
• Height of capillary rise depends on soil type, the finer the voids the greater the
height.
• Capillary water is continuously connected to the GWT
• It rises up against the force of gravity due to capillary action.
• Water in the capillary fringe (zone) held by surface tension forces, cannot be
drained by any drainage system, because capillary flow does not obey the law of
gravity.
• If the GWT is lowered, the whole capillary fringe can be lowered.
• Capillary water can also be removed by evaporation.
• In cohesive soils its decreases cohesion and stability and the soil is transferred
into a plastic state.
• In sandy soils it adds to the stability provided the soil is laterally confined.

• Height of capillary rise varies inversely with size of pores, which is a function of
the particle size and density of soil.
• Up to this height above the water table the soil is sufficiently close to full
saturation.
• The capillary height is determined by capillarimeter.
CAPILLARY MOVEMENT IN SOIL
• Soil moisture moves continuously, even through unsaturated soils.
• Direction of movement depends on the relative potential.
• Moisture moves from higher potential towards lower potential.
• The demand of a moist soil for additional moisture above GWT and the
gravitational pull provide the principal potentials, which influence moisture
movement.
• Demand or capillary attraction for water is exerted in all directions.
• Therefore capillary water may also move horizontally in soil depending upon
the relative potential.
• GWT is a free water surface at which the pressure is atmospheric.
• Water therefore rises above the GWT.
• When the capillary potential is balanced with the gravitational potential,
capillary moisture will be in static equilibrium, and no flow will occur.
• Field moisture seldom reaches a state of equilibrium, because of relatively slow
rate of capillary movement and the continuously changing weather conditions.
• During dry season upper soil is drier with low capillary potential than lower soil
and upward movement occurs. After rain fall, downward movement due to
combined effect of gravity and capillarity takes place.
•Moisture increases due to capillary rise.
•An increase of moisture always reduces the strength of soil (especially fine
grained soil).
•Study of capillarity is important for the following projects.
FACTORS AFFECTING CAPILLARITY OR CAPILLARY POTENTIAL

• Capillary potential depends on surface tension of water and the radii of

curvature of the air-water surfaces of the tiny wedges of water between the
soil particles.
• The amount of soil water to affect the radii of curvature depends on the
following,
1. Particle size,
2. Density,
3. Temperature,
4. Degree of wetting in terms of angle of contact,
5. Percentage of dissolved salts in the soil water.