TWO-DIMENSIONAL GROUND-WATER FLOW THROUGH A BANK

WITH VERTICAL FACES

T. G. CHAPMAN, BSc., A.M.I.E.Aust.

SYNC 1PSIS

The Paper deals with Muskat’s analytical solu- Ce document traite de la solution analytique de
tion of the problem of ground-water flow through a Muskat du probleme d’ecoulement d’une nappe d’eau
bank with vertical faces. Sufficient numerical cal- souterraine au travers d’une paroi a cot&s verticaux.
culations have been made to enable the height of the Sutbsamment de calculs numeriques ont et6 fait pour
seepage surface to be determined for any geometry permettre de determiner la hauteur de la surface de
of the system. The results are compared with suintement pour toute geometric du systeme. Les
previously published solutions, and this leads to an resultats sont compares a des solutions publii-es pr&
examination of the critical depth theory. It is cedemment et ceci conduit a un examen de la pro-
shown that the shape of the free surface can be ex- fondeur critique. 11 est demontre que la forme de la
pressed with considerable accuracy by a simple surface libre peut &tre exprimee avec un precision
formula. considerable par une simple formule.

NOTATION

y = total flux/unit thickness

V = velocity = flux/area of cross-section

-P = pressure head
W

h = y + t = piezometric head
W
s = distance along a streamline
k = transmission constant
Other symbols used are defined in the text.

INTRODUCTION

The problem is illustrated by Fig. 1 where water flows steadily from an inlet depth h, to an
outlet depth Iz2,, through a homogeneous permeable bank of length L, overlying a horizontal
impermeabIe stratum EA. CD represents the free surface, and BC of height k, is the seepage
surface. Assumptions made are as usual :-

(1) The length of the system at right-angles to the plane of the diagram is sufficient for
the problem to be treated as two-dimensional.

(2) The flow at all points in the saturated region satisfies Darcy’s law I’ = - k $.

(3) The transmission constant is the same in all directions (a simple anisotropy can be
covered by distortion of the dimensions of the system-Muskat, 1946(u)).
(4) Capillary effects are negligible, so that the upper boundary CD of the saturated zone
is at atmospheric pressure.

The problem of Fig. 1 has been analysed by Muskat (1935 and 1946(b)), by a conformal map-
ping of the hodograph representation of the system on to an infinite half-plane. The horizontal
and vertical velocity components u, v at a point (x, y) referred to axes through E are given by
the following equation :
35

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 36 T. G. CHAPMAN

z = x + iy =

h-l
t
s e2'+ i* d (2~- iv)

SJ
1
=- h(a _h)(h _b)e”d(u -iv) . . . . . (1)
k
where 0, the sum of the inclinations of the velocity and acceleration with the x-axis, has

boundary values - ; on BC and DE, 0 on EA, and 1 on AB; X is the modular elliptic func-

tion, defined by :
u K’ 1
~ (-----I for - co<h<O
k -27 1-A
ZL K’ 1
for I < h < 00
k -l-TX
- 0
where K(h) and K’(h) are the complete elliptic integrals of the first kind with modulus h and
VYZG respectively. X has the values 0 at C, 1 at D, b at E, a at A, and co at B; u is a
definite integral involving A, for which numerical values have been calculated by Muskat
(1935). The physical dimensions of the system are determined by the parameters a and b
in the X-plane, and can be calculated from the following particular cases of equation (1) :
1 u(d)
L, = x eTdu . . . . . . (2)
s t@)
u(B)
h, z~ ; eTdu . . . (3)
s0
co

h, =; eTdzc . . . . . (4)
s 64)

... . . (5)
. . . . (6)
Further expressions can be obtained for the total flux q, the shape of the free surface CD and
the velocity distribution along the boundaries.

THE HEIGHT OF THE SEEPAGE SURFACE

The numerical evaluation of equations (1) to (6) is a lengthy process and only six solutions
were obtained by Muskat. These were sufficient to show that the flux q is given by the
expression :

q = & (J&2- h,2) . . . . . . . . (7)

with an error of less than 1% for the cases studied, but enabled no general conclusions to be
drawn regarding the height h, of the seepage surface. The following calculations have
therefore had as their object the determination of h, as a function of L, he, and It,.
Calculations were made with pairs of values of a and b. For each pair equations (2) to
(6) were evaluated, equation (6) being used as a check on the accuracy of the work. Weddle’s
rule was used for the integrations, a very small interval du being necessary near singularities
and at points of maximum curvature of the graph of eT against u (see Fig. 2). It can be
reasonably assumed that errors in the values of h,/he are not more than 1% and in the values
of h,/hc and L/he not more than 2%.

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 GROUND-WATER FLOW THROUGH A BANK 37

Fig. 1. Definition diagram

Fig. 2

Fig. 3 shows the results in the form of a graph of h,/he against L/h,, with the value of
hm/he noted against each point and lines of equal values of a and b drawn. The six points
calculated by Muskat, one of which was repeated as a check, are included.
Fig. 4, which gives contours of h,/he on a plot of h8/he against L/h,, was developed from
Fig. 3, and enables the height of the seepage surface to be determined with sufficient accuracy
for any practical purpose. As is well known, the height of seepage surface decreases as the
ratio of length to depth of the system increases, and rapid reduction in this height occurs as
the downstream depth h, is increased ; in fact when h, is greater than 0.5 h,, the seepage
surface is negligible.

COMPARISO?; WITH OTHER METHODS

Wyckoff and Reed (1935) used an electrical analogy to obtain results which agreed closely
with Muskat’s published solutions. Shaw and Southwell (1941), using a relaxation technique,
obtained the results h,/h, = 0.36 when L/he = 0.667 and h,/he = 0.167. The foregoing
results differ from the following approximate solutions which involve further assumptions :-

Fig. 3 Fig. 4

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 38 T. G. CHAPMAN

(1) Vibert (1949) makes assumptions about the shape of the streamlines. For the case
h, = 0, the theory leads to an expression for h, which, with the present notation, is :

h, = ;(z/Lz +4/&s -L) . . . . . * (8)

This equation clearly satisfies the extreme conditions h, --f h, as L/he --f 0, and h, -+ 0 as
h, -+ co, but Fig. 5 shows that for intermediate conditions the theory consistently over-
estimates the value of h, with a maximum error of more than 100%.
(2) Jaeger (1956) assumes that the equipotentials can be regarded as arcs of circles.
Fig. 5 shows that for the case of zero outflow depth, this theory consistently underestimates
the height of the seepage surface, with a maximum error of 36%, but the error becomes
negligible as the height of seepage surface decreases.

THE CRITICAL DEPTH THEORY

Jaeger (1956) determines the free surface by a finite difference equation, and from the
results postulates a critical depth below which the free surface at the seepage face cannot fall.
This implies that, as h, increases from zero, the total height hyw+ h, of the outflow face
is constant up to a critical value of h,, and is thereafter equal to h,. This is illustrated for
the case L/he = 1.60 in Fig. 6, where the analytical solution shows that h, + h, decreases
with h,, with no critical point. Fig. 6 also shows experimental data obtained from piezo-
meters located just inside the seepage surface of a sand model (Fig. 7).
For outflow depths below the critical depth, Jaeger (1956) states that the discharge is a
maximum which is independent of h,. This is incompatible with the generally accepted
conclusion, established both theoretically (Muskat, 1946(c)) and by electrical analogy (Wyckoff
and Reed, 1935), that the discharge is given with considerable accuracy by the Dupuit
equation (7). The results of sand model tests (Fig. 8) show no maximum at small values
of ht,.
It appears from the foregoing that the idea of a critical depth in ground-water flow is not
valid. The reason for the failure of the theory lies in the assumptions on which it is based.
In order to check these assumptions an electrical analogy was used to determine the potentials
at the nodes of a square mesh for the case L/he = 1,96, h,/he = 0.125 ; the experimental

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 GROUND-WATER FLOW THROUGH A BANK 39

Equatlcn(9
2

L/h, = 0.50 ; h-/h, = 0.26

0.4 0.2 0.4 0.6

0.b 0.0

Fig. 8. Typical result of sand model test Fig. 10. Comparison of

approximations for the free surface

values were improved by relaxation using the known boundary conditions. Fig. 9 shows
clearly the discrepancy between the equipotentials and free surface obtained by this method
and those based on Jaeger’s assumptions.

A SIMPLE APPROXIMATION FOR THE FREE SURFACE

The determination of the free surface by the analytical method involves very lengthy
computations, and the result for one case only was calculated by Gunther (Hamel and Gunther,
1935). It is probably quicker to use an electrical analogy (Wyckoff and Reed, 1935) or
relaxation techniques (Shaw and Southwell, 1941) or, but with less accuracy, the finite
difference method of Jaeger (1956).
Each of these methods requires an individual calculation for each pair of values of L/he
and h,/he, which accounts for the wide use of the Dupuit equation :

he2 - ys = ;(he2 - h,2) . . . . . . * (9)

-Relaxation solution

0.4 0.6 0.0 I.0 1.2 14 1.6 8.I)

n/?

Fig. 9. Free surface and equipotentials for the case

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 40 T. G. CHAPMAN

This equation is only reliable when the ratio L/he is large (Jacob, 1950) (which implies
that the seepage surface is negligible). The equation :

~~2--3’2=~{h,‘-((h,+h,)a} . . . . . * (10)

approaches equation (9) as h, --f 0 and also satisfies the necessary conditions y = 12, when
x=O,andy=h,+h,whenx=L.
In Fig. 10 equations (9) and (10) are compared with Giinther’s solution and show that the
maximum error of 38% for the Dupuit equation is reduced by the use of equation (10) to 6%.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The investigations described in this Paper were carried out at the University of
Southampton. The Author gratefully acknowledges the assistance of Mr W. Wright, BSc.,
Ph.D., A.M.I.C.E., who provided every facility for the research.

CONCLUSIONS

The height of the seepage surface for the problem of Fig. 1 can be determined from Fig. 4.
Using these values, the shape of the free surface can be obtained from equation (10) with
much less error than results from the Dupuit equation (9).
Comparison with the approximate theories of Vibert (1949) and Jaeger (1956) shows that
the assumptions made in these theories are not sufficiently accurate even for practical purposes,
while the concept of a critical depth which results from Jaeger’s theory is not valid.

REFERENCES

CHAPMAN. T. G., 1956. “Groundwater flow to trenches and well points”. J. Instn. Eng. (Aust.), 28: 275.
HAMEL, G., and E. G~~NTHER,1935. “Nnmerische durchrechnung zn der abhandlung uber grundwasser-
strijmung” (“Numerical calculations of the treatise on ground-water flow”). 2. Angew. Math. u. Mech..
15:225.
JACOB, C. E., 1950. “Engineering hydraulics”. Wiley, New York. (Chap. V : “Groundwater flow”.)
JAEGER, C. E. 1956. “Engineering fluid mechanics”. BZackie, pp. 403-409.
brUSKAT, hf.,19%. “ The seepage of water through dams with vertical faces “. Physics, 6: 402.
MUSKAT, M., 1946(a). “Flow of homogeneous fluids through porous media”. McGraw-Hill, New York,
pp. 226-229.
MUSKAT, M., 1946(b). “Flow of homogeneous fluids through porous media”. McGraw-Hill, New York,
pp. 303-30s.
MUSKAT, M., 1946(c). “ The seepage of water through dams with vertical faces “. McGraw-Hill, New
York, pp. 317 and 379-380.
SKAW, F. S., and R. V. SOUTHWELL, 1941. “ Relaxation methods applied to engineering problems “. Proc.
Roy. Sot., 178a : 1.
VIBERT, .%., 1949. “ Le mouvement de l’eau dans le sol ” (” The movement of water in the soil “). G&e
Civil, 126 : 160-165.
IVYCKOFF, R. D., and D. W. REED, 1935. “ Electrical conduction models for the solution of water seepage
problems “. Physics, 6 : 395 and 400.

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