200 6 Governing Equations in Porous Media

100 %

Curve A
"drying"

Curve B
S
"wetting"

0
pc

Fig. 6.2 Water-retention curve

a b c
Q

Ws = γs (1 – n) H p = (H + h)γw
Ww = γwn H
1 h
1–n n

Q B B d
B
f
H H
Ws Ww
d
A A f A

–σ' + p (1 – n) pn
1−D Flow Skeleton Water

Fig. 6.3 One-dimensional flow of liquid through material

neglect the inertial effects. When the water flows through the soil specimen, it
imparts a viscous drag force on the solid skeleton. This is known as the seepage
force in the discipline of flow through porous media. To illustrate this, let us first
consider a simple one-dimensional flow arrangement shown in Fig. 6.3a. The tube
on the left is filled with saturated soil, with the lower end (point A) connected to a
constant-head water supply line and the upper end (point B) is left open so that
6.1 Preliminaries 201

water can freely flow out of the tube. Given sufficient length of time, a steady-state
flow will develop with water flowing from point A to point B.
Taking the datum through point A and neglecting the velocity head, the total
hydraulic heads (pressure þ elevation) at points A and B are ðH þ hÞgw and Hgw ,
respectively, where gw ¼ rw g is the density of water. As the head at point A is
higher than the head at point B, water flows from point A to point B. The effective
stress at point A is

s0 ¼ s þ p ¼ %½gsat H % ðH þ hÞgw ' ¼ %½g0 H % gw h' (6.14)

where gsat and g0 ¼ gsat % gw are the (total) saturated density and buoyant density of
the soil, respectively. The effective compressive stress is positive at point A. (Note
the use of þ sign between s and p in the above equation. This is due to the use of
opposite sign conventions for the two stresses.) Hence, as h increases from zero, the
effective compressive stress at point A decreases. This is true for any point in the
soil column. The reason for the decrease in the effective compressive stress is that
as the water flows around the soil grains, it exerts a viscous drag force on the grains
and hence on the soil skeleton. This decreases the intergranular force (i.e., FN
shown in Fig. 6.1c, d).
To determine the magnitude of this drag force, let us develop free-body diagrams
for the skeleton and water phase separately. These diagrams are schematically
shown in Fig. 6.3b and c, respectively. The viscous drag force f d is introduced as
an interface force on both the skeleton and water phases. Noting that the cross
sectional area of the column (Fig. 6.3a) is taken as unity, the areas covered by the
solid and water phases are 1 % n and n, respectively. At point A, the skeleton
(Fig. 6.3b) is subjected to effective stress and water pressure. s0 is defined by
dividing the inter-granular force by A and p is defined by dividing the fluid force
by Aliquid (6.10). The forces acting on the skeleton due to effective stress and water
pressure are then obtained by multiplying the corresponding stresses by 1 and
1 % n, respectively (Fig. 6.3b). The force on the water phase (Fig. 6.3c) is obtained
by multiplying the water pressure by n. The expression for Fd can be obtained
by either considering equilibrium of the skeleton (which is the question in Prob-
lem 6.2) or the water phase; the latter is done here as follows.
!
d h
f ¼ pn % Ww ¼ ðH þ hÞgw n % Hngw ¼ hgw n ¼ g n H ¼ ðigw nÞH (6.15a)
H w

where i ¼ h=H is the hydraulic gradient between points A and B. Now according to
Darcy’s (1856) law,

w_ ave ¼ ik (6.15b)

where w_ ave is the average velocity of water flow (units: length/time) defined as

Q Q
w_ ave ¼ ¼ ¼Q (6.15c)
A 1
202 6 Governing Equations in Porous Media

Q is the volumetric rate of water flow through the column, and k is the permeability
(units: length/time). Using (6.15b), (6.15a) can be written as

w_ ave nH
d
f ¼ ¼ nk%1 w_ ave H (6.15d)
ðk=gw Þ

where k ¼ k=gw . The drag force per unit volume is

d
f
f ¼ d
¼ nk%1 w_ ave (6.15e)
H(1

The true velocity (also known as seepage velocity or intrinsic velocity) of

the water particles u_ w can be found by the principle of mass conservation.
Assuming that the density of water does not change as the water flows through
the soil:

Aw
Q ¼ w_ ave A ¼ u_ w Aw ) w_ ave ¼ u_ w ¼ nu_ w (6.15f)
A

where Aw is the cross sectional area covered by the water phase. If the solid particles
are also moving, then (6.15f) is modified as

w_ ave ¼ nðu_ w % u_ s Þ ¼ nw;

_ w_ ¼ u_ w % u_ s (6.15g)

where u_ s is the intrinsic velocity of the solid particles and w_ is the intrinsic relative
velocity between the liquid and solid phases.
The corresponding relations for an unsaturated soil are (Problem 6.3)

w_ ave ¼ Snðu_ w % u_ s Þ ¼ Snw_ (6.16a)

f d ¼ nSk%1 w_ ave ¼ n2 S2 k%1 w_ (6.16b)

Equations (6.15b), (6.15g), (6.16a), and (6.16b) are generalized to a multiaxial

flow of any liquid as

w_ ave
i ¼ Snðu_ ‘i % u_ si Þ ¼ Snw_ i ; w_ i ¼u_ ‘i % u_ si (6.16c)

w_ ave
i ¼ kij ij (6.16d)

kij
fid ¼ nSkij%1 w_ ave
j ¼ n2 S2 kij%1 w_ j ; kij ¼ (6.16e)
g‘

The superscripts ‘ and s denote “liquid” and “solid” phases, respectively.

Equation (6.16d) is Darcy’s law generalized to a multiaxial flow, with kij denoting
6.1 Preliminaries 203

the permeability tensor and ij denoting the hydraulic gradient in direction j. ij is

dimensionless and hence the coefficients of kij have a unit of velocity. kij is obtained
by normalizing kij with respect to the fluid density g‘ .

6.1.4 Balance Principles: Single-Phase Materials

The key principles of continuum mechanics that are relevant to mechanics of all
materials are the principles of the conservation of mass, balance of linear momen-
tum, balance of moment of momentum (angular momentum), first law of thermo-
dynamics (conservation of energy) and second law of thermodynamics (entropy
production inequality).
The first law of thermodynamics encapsulates the principle of energy conser-
vation and postulates interconvertibility of thermal and mechanical energies.
The second law of thermodynamics provides a criterion for irreversible processes.
The laws of thermodynamics provide a systematic means of identifying pertinent
state variables and formulating constitutive laws. For example, the structure of
Darcy’s law can be derived by the application of the principles of thermodynamics
(Coussy 1995). A detailed treatment of the topic is beyond the scope of this book.
In this section, we consider a single phase material and present the details of the
principles of the conservation of mass, balance of linear momentum and balance of
angular momentum. In Sect. 6.2, we will extend these principles to a porous media.
To achieve these, some description of the kinematics of continua is necessary.
Referring to Fig. 6.4, a body having a volume V0 at t ¼ 0 (initial or undeformed
configuration) deforms to one having a volume V at any time t (current or deformed
configuration). A material point (“particle”) at point A now occupies a point at
point B. The vector representing the position of point A is X (“material coordinate”)
and that representing point B is x (“spatial coordinate”). (Note that the position of
point B may be represented with respect to a moving coordinate system if desired).

Original
Configuration Deformed
t =0 Configuration
t n
t
A ρ , s , e, b , u
u
B

3 X
2
x

Fig. 6.4 Original and

deformed configurations 1
204 6 Governing Equations in Porous Media

The motion of any material point such as point A may then be represented either in
terms of the material coordinate as

x ¼ xðX; tÞ (6.17a)

or in terms of the spatial coordinate as

X ¼ Xðx; tÞ (6.17b)

The former (6.17a) is referred to as Lagrangian or material description and the

latter (6.17b) is referred to as the Eulerian or spatial description. All other relevant
quantities may similarly be given either a Lagrangian or an Eulerian description; for
example, the mass density may be described as

r ¼ rðX; tÞ % Lagrangian (6.18a)

or

r ¼ rðx; tÞ % Eulerian (6.18b)

Let us now define a few related quantities:

@xi
Fij ¼ ; dxi ¼ Fik dXk ðor dx ¼ FdXÞ (6.19a)
@Xj

J ¼ jFij j (6.19b)

u¼x%X (6.19c)

1" # 1" T #
Eij ¼ Fki Fkj % dij or E ¼ F F%d (6.19d)
2 2

1" #
Aij ¼ dij % Fik Fjk (6.19e)
2

where Fij , J, u, Eij , and Aij are known as deformation gradient, Jacobian, displace-
ment vector, Lagrangian or Green finite strain tensor, and Eulerian or Almansi’s
finite strain tensor, respectively. dij is the Kronecker delta. dx and dX are infinitesi-
mal line elements in the current and original configurations, respectively. The
condition for obtaining the relationship given by (6.17b) by inverting (6.17a) is
that the Jacobian does not vanish. It can be shown (Problem 6.4) that
$ %
1 @ui @uj @uk @uk
Eij ¼ þ þ (6.20a)
2 @Xj @Xi @Xi @Xj