CIVL 3730 Fundamentals of Geotechnies 3 With Darcy’s law, the discharge velocities can be expressed as h =k,i, =-k, = ky Vx =Kyly or =0) (2) and ch ok, v, =k, =k, > fi =0 3 “ta (forS*=0) 3) where k, and k, are the hydraulic conductivities in the horizontal and vertical directions, respectively. From equations (1) ~ (3), we can get fh | Oh k,—>+k,—>=0 4 a i If the soil is isotropic with respect to the hydraulic conductivity — that is, k, = k,, the preceding continuity equation for two-dimensional flow simplifies to Oh Oh _ a ro) ax? @z* This is a Laplace’s equation. It says that the change of gradient in the z direction plus the change of gradient in the x direction is zero. The fact that the basic equation of steady flow in isotropic soil satisfies Laplace’s equation means that the flow lines intersect at right angles with the equipotential lines in a flow net (to be proved later)