Hydraulic Structures

(CE 704B)

Asst. Prof. Tapas Pattanayek
Department of Civil Engineering
PCMT
 Remedies
• i) Providing sufficient length of impervious 
floor  so that path of percolation is increased 
and exit gradient is reduced.

• ii) Providing pile at the upstream and 
downstream ends of the impervious floor.
 Remedies
• i) Providing impervious floor of sufficient 
length and appropriate thickness.

• ii) Providing pile at the upstream end of the 
impervious floor so that uplift pressure to the 
downstream is reduced.
 Remedies
• i) Providing additional thickness of floor to 
counterbalance the extra suction pressure due 
to standing wave.

• ii) Constructing the floor thickness in one 
monolithic concrete mass instead of in 
different layers of masonry.
 Remedies
• i) Taking piles at upstream and downstream 
ends of the impervious floor much below the 
calculated scour level.

• ii) Providing suitable length and thickness of 
launching apron at upstream and downstream 
sides.
Design of Impervious Floor for Subsurface Flow

• The subsurface flow  or foundation seepage 
may cause failure of an impervious floor on a 
permeable foundation in two ways i.e piping 
and uplift pressure.
• Hence calculating, exit gradient and uplift 
pressure at various points of the impervious 
floor is necessary.
• Bligh, Lane and Khosla contributed in this area
 BLIGH’S CREEP THEORY
In 1910, W.G. Bligh presented a theory for the sub‐surface 
flow in his book ‘Practical design of Irrigation Works’.

Bligh’s assumption 

1. The percolating water creeps along the base profile of 
the structure which is in contact with the sub‐soil.

2.    The hydraulic slope or gradient is constant throughout 
the impervious length of the  apron
As the hydraulic gradient is constant, if L1 is the 
creep length upto any point, 
then head loss upto this point will be (H/L) X L1               
and 
the residual head at this point will be H – (H/L) X L1

The loss of head equal to (H/L) X 2d1 at point C
(H/L) X 2d2 at point E
(H/L) X 2d3 at point B
 Safety Against Uplift Pressure
If the Uplift head at any point at bottom of the
floor is h’
Then the uplift pressure = wh’ where w is the
specific weight of water
If at that point floor thickness is t and the
specific gravity of the floor material is G,
Then the downward pressure due to weight of
the floor =wGt
For equilibrium, the uplift pressure must be
counter‐balanced by the weight of the floor
wh’ = wGt
t = h’/G
Now the head at the bottom of the floor will
be known only after t is known
Hence, h’ –t = Gt –t
t = h’-t / G-1 = h/(G-1)
Where h is head at the top of the floor

We give a factor of safety of 4/3

Hence, t = 4/3 h/(G‐1)
 LIMITATIONS BLIGH’S THEORY
• Bligh’s made no distinction between horizontal and
vertical creep
• Bligh’s method hold goods so long as the horizontal
distance between the pile lines is greater than twice
their depth.
• Bligh did not explain the idea of exit gradient.
• Bligh’s makes no distinction between the outer and
inner faces of sheet piles or the intermediate sheet
pile.
• Loss of head does not take place in the same
proportion as creep length.