Civil Engineering Department

College of Engineering

Course: Soil Mechanics

(CE 359)

Lecturer: Dr. Frederick Owusu-Nimo

 Introduction
• When water flows through well defined aquifers/
flow boundary conditions, we can compute the
flow rate using Darcy’s law, q=kiA
• When flow path is irregular, then using analytical
equations becomes difficult
• We evaluate flow in this case using flow net
• Usually in flow net, water seeps through the
permeable stratum from upstream side to the
downstream side
Flow Net
 Flow Net
• Flow line represents the path along which a given water
particle travels in moving from the upstream side through
the permeable stratum to the downstream side
• Equipotential lines connects points on different flow lines
having equal total energy heads
• A collection of flow lines intersecting equipotential lines
constitute flow nets
• Both the upstream and downstream surfaces of a
permeable layer are equipotential lines
• The impervious surfaces are flow lines
Construction of Flow Net
• Flow net construction requires a scale drawing of the
cross section of the flow path
• It should show the impervious boundaries which restrict
flow and the pervious boundary through which water
enters and exits the soil
 Construction of Flow Net
• Sketch several (about 2 to 4) flow lines approximately
parallel to the impervious boundaries and
perpendicular to the pervious boundary
Construction of Flow Net
• Sketch equipotential lines approximately
perpendicular to the flow lines
Construction of Flow Net
• The equipotential and flow lines should be drawn to
form quasi-squares (approx. equal length and width)
• Adjust flow lines and equipotential lines so that all
figures have equal width and length and intersections
perpendicular
Different Forms of Flow
Net
Different Forms of Flow
Net
Different Forms of Flow
Net
Different Forms of Flow
Net

Coffer Dam
Computing Flow Rate
 Computing Flow Rate
𝑁𝑓 𝑁𝑓
• 𝑞 = 𝑘ℎ , is termed the shape factor
𝑁𝑑 𝑁𝑑

o q is flow rate per unit width

o k is permeability
o h is total head difference
o Nf is number of flow channels
o Nd is number of equipotential drops

• For the same problem, the shape factor will generally be

the same no matter the number of flow channels you
use
 Example

• For the flow net, the coefficient of permeability of soil stratum

is 4.8x10-3 cm/s. find the total rate of seepage per unit width of
sheet pile through the permeable stratum.
 Anisotropic Soils
• For stratified or anisotropic soils with different
permeabilities in the vertical and horizontal
directions, the flow net must be modified
• Horizontal permeability is usually much greater than
vertical permeability
• A transformed section is used to account for the
different permeabilities
• A transformed section implies modifying the scale
used for the drawing the cross section
 Anisotropic Soils
• Steps in constructing flow net for anisotropic soils
o Vertical lengths are plotted in the usual manner to fit the scale
selected for the sketch
o Horizontal dimensions are first alterd by multiplying all horizontal
𝑘𝑧
lengths by factor and plotting the result to scale
𝑘𝑥

o The resulting drawing will appear distorted with apparently shortened

horizontal dimensions
o The conventional flow net is sketched on the transformed section in
the same manner as isotropic soils
o For computing seepage flow, the k is replaced with 𝑘𝑥 𝑘𝑧
o Thus the equation for seepage flow rate becomes
𝑁𝑓
𝑞 = 𝑘𝑥 𝑘𝑧 ℎ
𝑁𝑑