CHAPTER 6 - THE CONTROL OF GROUNDWATER

The occurrence of groundwater on site is considered as one of the most

difficult problem in excavation work.
Reduction of groundwater within an excavation is needed for access by
workers and machines and for performing construction works in dry
conditions.
Methods of control of groundwater in excavations can be grouped in two main
categories:
Methods of dewatering by pumping water
Methods of restraint of flow
In this chapter, methods of the first category will be dealt with.
6.1 METHODS OF DEWATERING
6.1.1 Sump pumping
Water accumulated in the excavation is collected in a perimeter trench and
pumped out of the excavation for discharge. In the case of unsupported
excavation (fig. 3.1) or of supported excavation with a impervious wall, water
access is possible both through the sides and through the bottom. When the
sides of the excavation are protected by impervious walls, for instance a
closed sheet piling braced for lateral support (fig.6.2a), water access is
possible only through the bottom, which is provided with slight inclinations
and trenches to conduct the water to one or several sumps (fig. 6.2b). To
prevent piping, the sump can be protected by an inverted filter (fig. 6.3).

Fig. 6.1

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1 sheet pile wall; 2 sump; 3 - pump

Fig. 6.2
The greatest risk associated with the sump pumping is the occurrence of the
quick sand condition (or piping, boiling). In the case of sheet piling, upward
seepage of groundwater into the excavation can produce soil liquefaction,
when the vertical effective stress within the soil reaches zero (fig. 6.4). When
the quick sand condition is occurring, the pumping must immediately cease.
To reach the required level of the excavation, one of the following solutions
can be adopted:
- recharging water into excavation to the original level and, then,
performing the excavation and the concreting under water;
- lengthening the seepage path by driving the sheet piles to a deeper
penetration;
- reducing the head of the water causing seepage, by pumping from
wellpoints or bored wells placed at or below the level of the bottom of
sheet piles (see p. 6.1.2).

1 sump; 2 inverted filter

Fig. 6.3
Both silty or sandy clays, due to their low permeability, and coarse sands and
gravels, due to the large dimension of both particles and voids, are unlikely to
be subjected to piping. Soils most likely to be subjected to piping are soils
with no cohesion or very low cohesion, with grain size small enough to be
disturbed by the seepage forces, and permeable enough to allow seepage
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through them. Loose fine sands, silty sands and sandy silts meet these
requirements.

Fig. 6.4
If the depth of the excavation is not too big, pumps are placed at the ground
surface, as in fig. 6.1. The aspiration height or suction lift is limited to 67 m.
In order to determine the total discharge, the following relation can be used:
Q = q. A

(m3/h)

(6.1)

where A is the surface of the bottom of the excavation and q is a specific

discharge which can be taken: 0.16 for fine sands; 0.24 for medium sands;
2.00 for coarse sands.
When the excavation is supported by sheet piles (fig. 6.2), the following
relation can be used:
Qq Hk U

(m3/h)

(6.2)

where H is the head, in m; k coefficient of permeability in m/h; U the

perimeter of the wall; q is the specific discharge given in the table 6.1 in
function of the ratios (H+t)/l and H/(H+t) where t is the embedment and l the
distance from the ground water table to the impervious layer.
Table 6.1
H/H+t
(H+t)/l
1,00
0,75
0,50
0,25
0,00

0,10

0,20 0,30 0,40 0,50 0,60 0,70 0,80 0,90 0,95

1,39
1,20
1,12
1,08
1,02

1,13
0,95
0,89
0,84
0,80

0,98
0,81
0,74
0,70
0,67

0,88
0,70
0,64
0,60
0,58

0,78
0,61
0,56
0,52
0,50

0,70
0,53
0,48
0,45
0,42

0,61
0,46
0,41
0,39
0,38

0,52
0,39
0,34
0,32
0,31

0,42
0,30
0,27
0,25
0,24

0,36
0,23
0,22
0,21
0,20
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6.1.2 Groundwater lowering

6.1.2.1 General conditions
The main methods used for groundwater lowering are the wellpoint systems
and the bored wells.
The scheme for the groundwater lowering is illustrated in fig. 6.5.

Fig. 6.5
Wellpoints or bored wells systems are installed prior to excavation inside or
outside the excavation area. Once in function, they will cause groundwater to
flow away from the excavation, improving the stability to its side batters and
base and allowing construction works to proceed in the dry.
Another use of groundwater lowering is illustrated in fig. 6.6, and is intended
to prevent the hydraulic failure of the base of the excavation. Ground
conditions on the site are characterized by the presence of two water layers,
the upper one with free level and the lower one under pressure, separated by
a layer of impervious soil, a clay. When the excavation reaches the clay layer,
this one is subjected to a pressure w H , corresponding to the difference in
the elevations of the two water layers. If the thickness h of the clay layer
below the base of the excavation is not sufficient, there will be a heave of the
layer of clay followed by its rupture under the pressure w H . The
phenomenon is called hydraulic failure of the base of the excavation. In order
to prevent it, the lowering of the groundwater is necessary.

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1 excavation; 2 impervious layer; 3 pervious layer

Fig. 6.6
In fig. 6.7 is put into evidence the advantage of using the groundwater
lowering with bored wells or well points, as compared to the sump pumping,
in the case of an excavation with a vertical soil support. When the sump
pumping is used (fig. 6.7a), the wall should be impervious and to resist both
the active earth pressure and the water pressure. There is a risk of piping,
particularly in soils such as fine sands, silty sands or sands silty. When the
groundwater lowering is done (fig. 6.7b), water is drawn away from the
excavation and, being filtered as it is removed from the ground, carries little or
no soil particles with it, once steady discharge conditions have been attained.
At the same time, the wall is subjected only to the active earth pressure and
should not be impervious.
There is, however, a shortcoming of this method, too, namely the occurrence
of settlement due to an increase in density as result of the ground lowering of
the water table. Indeed, in a point A adjacent to the dewatering system (fig.
3.5), the effective overburden pressure before lowering the ground water
table is:
(6.3)
peff 'b sat a
After ground water lowering, peff becomes:
p'eff sat a b

The increase in pressure is:

(6.4)

p'eff peff sat a sat b ' b sat a sat ' b w b

(6.5)

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Fig. 6.7
6.1.2.2 Bored wells
A 4060 cm diameter borehole is performed, under the protection of a
casing, until the impervious layer is reached or, if this is not possible, deep
enough below the bottom of the excavation. Inside the casing a tube of 15
30 cm diameter is inserted, provided with a perforated screen over the length
where dewatering of the soil is required and it terminates in a 23 m length
of unperforated pipe to act as a sump to collect any fine material which may
be drawn through the filter. After the well casing is installed, graded gravel
filter material is placed between it and the outer borehole casing over the
length to be dewatered. The outer casing is withdrawn in stages as the filter
material is placed and the remaining space above the screen is backfilled
with any available material.
Pumping from bored wells can be undertaken by surface pumps, with their
suction pipes installed in bored wells. The depth of draw-down in this case is
maximum 8 m. When a great depth of water lowering is required or when an
artesian head must be lowered in permeable strata at a considerable depth
below excavation level, electrically powered submersible pumps are used,
with a rising main to the surface. In the case of submersible pump, there is no
limitation on amount of draw-down as there is for suction pumping. A pump in
a 350 mm borehole can raise 7500 l/min. against 30 m head.
In fig. 6.8 is shown a complete installation of a bored well.

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1 inner casing; 2 rising main; 3 submersible pump; 4 silt, collecting in

sump; 5 mesh filter screen; 6 outer well casing withdrawn;
7 soil backfill; 8 graded filter material
Fig. 6.8
The design of a dewatering system using bored wells is based on relations
established in hydraulics of underground works, of the kind shown in the
chapter 3, in connection with the determination of the coefficient of
permeability k by a well-pumping test.
As it was shown, when the well reaches the impervious layer (see ch. 2), the
equation of the draw-down curve is:
z2 h 2

q x
ln
k r

(6.6)

At a distance R from the axis of the wells, named radius of influence, there is
no effect of the dewatering, the draw-down curve meets the original
groundwater level. By replacing x = R, z = H in the relation (3.3):
k
q
H2 h2
R
(6.7)
ln
r
If the draw-down at the well face is so:

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h = H - so
so = H h

(6.8)

Replacing (3.5) in (3.4):

q

k
2H so so
R
ln
r

(6.9)

Equation (6.6) gives the relation between the discharge q of water pumped
from the bored well and the resulting lowering so.
By experiments, it was found the following relation for R:
R = 3000 so k1/2

(6.10)

where so is in m and k in m/s.

For an individual well of radius rw, the discharge quantity given by Darcys law
is:
qi 2 rw h w k ie

(6.11)

where hw is the height of well screen and ie is the average entry gradient.
According to empirical findings, ie should not exceed 1/(15 k 1/2) to avoid
turbulence and filter unstability. Thus, the capacity of an individual well should
be limited to:
q max 2 rw h w

k
15 K

m3 / s

(6.12)

1 original ground water level; 2 lowered groundwater level;

3 bored well; 4 fictitious well
Fig. 6.9
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The relation (6.12), established for the pumping from a bored well was
extended to the case of pumping simultaneously from several wells,
assuming that these wells are located around a perimeter of a circle of radius
1/ 2

BL
R1, where R1
, B and L being the length and the width of the

rectangular excavation. It is also assumed that the cumulated effect of the
wells is equal to the one of a fictitious wells of radius R1 and having the same
radius of influence R as the single well (fig. 6.9). By this way is obtained the
total flow Q needed for the required lowering so:
Q

K
2H so so
R
ln
R1

(6.13)

The number of wells is n, where

n

(6.14)

q max

The required pump capacity is:

N

Q h w

(6.15)

where w is the density of water to be pumped, and is the system

efficiency which, considering friction loss in the delivery pipe work is usually in
the range 0.3 to 0.5. For 0.3 and w 10kN / m3 ,
N

Qh
40

kW

(6.16)

where Q is in litres/s and h is in metres

6.1.2.3 Wellpoints
A wellpoint consists of a 1 m long and 50 75 mm diameter gauze screen
surrounding a central riser pipe.
Wellpoints are jetted down by water at a pressure of up to 15 bar, penetrating
in the ground by their own weight and requiring only to be guided by the
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worker (fig. 6.10). Once the desired level is reached, the jetting water supply
is cut down to a low velocity sufficient to keep the hole around the point open.
A coarse sand is then fed around the annular space to form a supplementary
filter around the point, after which the water is cut off.

1 water jet; 2 impervious seal of clay; 3 header

Fig. 6.10
In fig. 6.11 are given details of the tip of a wellpoint. A particular feature is a
rubber ball acting as a valve, which is lowered when jetting (fig.6.11a) and
raised when pumping (fig. 6.11.b).
Wellpoints act most effectively in sands and sandy gravels of moderate
permeability. The draw-down is slow in silty sands but these soils can be also
effectively drained with wellpoints.

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1 riser pipe; 2 gauze screen; 3 rubber ball by jetting;

4 rubber ball by pumping; 5 natural filter
Fig. 6.11
In soils of lower permeability, the effectiveness of the wellpoints installation is
increased by including a vacuum pump which creates in the wellpoints a
negative pressure of 0.70.8 daN/cm 2. The groundwater which is at the
atmospheric pressure is drained forcefully to the wellpoints where the
pressure is lower. When using the vacuum, wellpoints have to be provided
with a clay seal, in order to maintain a high vacuum at the well screen (fig.
6.12).

1 lowered groundwater level by gravitational dewatering;

2 lowered groundwater level by vacuum dewatering; 3 impervious seal of
clay; 4 wellpoint
Fig. 6.12

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In soils of finer particle size, such as silts, a further improvement of the

effectiveness of wellpoints can be obtained by using the drainage by electro
osmosis.
For that purpose, between the well points and at close distance are driven in
the ground steel rods connected to positive pole of a source of electrical
current, becoming anodes, while the header main of the well points
installation is connected to the pole minus, making the wellpoints to act as
cathodes. The water particles surrounded by cations flow through the pores in
the soil and are collected at the cathodes, increasing the rate of flow obtained
by gravitational drainage. A typical layout of an installation combining
gravitational drainage and electro osmosis is shown in fig. 6.13.

1 wellpoint as cathode; 2 steel rod as anode

Fig. 6.13
In fig. 6.14 is given an example of the use of dewatering by electro-osmosis in
the case of a battered excavation. The anodes are placed nearest to the
excavation causing the ground water to flow away from the slopes, which
effectively stabilizes them and permits steep slopes.
Wellpointing equipment comprises usually wellpoints, header mains,
centrifugal pump, vacuum pump, electrical engine etc. Wellpoints are
normally spaced from 1 to 4 m apart, depending on soil conditions and
drawdown requirements.

1 wellpoint as cathode; 2 steel rod as anode; 3 stream lines

Fig. 6.14
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Unlike bored wells, which can be equipped with submersible pumps,

wellpoints are operating with central pumps at the ground surface providing a
limited suction lift. A lowering of 5 - 5,5 m below pump level is a practical limit.
For deeper excavation, the wellpoints must be installed in two or more
stages.
In fig. 6.15 is shown a cross-section of a large open excavation with a
wellpoint installation applied in two stages.

Fig. 6.15

179