DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING

NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, ROURKELA-769008

M.Tech 1st Semester Sub: Advanced Soil Mechanics
ASSIGNMENT NO. 5

1. Show that the equipotential lines and stream lines in a flow field intersect each other
orthogonally.

2. With the help of a neat sketch show that the rate of seepage (q) in a flow field is given
by: q = k H Nf/ Nd
Where k is the coefficient of permeability, H is the total head loss; Nf and Nd are the
number of floe channels and number of potential drops in the flow field.

3. What is an inverted filter? Give the detail design criteria of the inverted filters. What
are the types of filter used in earth dams?

4. How do you calculate the average permeability for a stratified soil deposit? A sand
deposit contains three distinct layers of equal thicknesses. The coefficient of permeability
of upper layer is 10-3 cm/sec, middle layer is 10-2 cm/sec and bottom layer is 10-4 cm/sec.
what are the values of average horizontal and vertical permeability and what is their ratio.

5. A sand deposit 10 m thick overlies an impervious layer. A vertical sheet pile wall
penetrates halfway into the sand deposit. The water level on the U/S side is 3 m and
on the D/S side is 0.5 m. The sand has a permeability of 10.80 m/day. Determine the
seepage loss through the sand layer.

6. What do you mean by critical hydraulic gradient? A 3.0m layer of soil (n=0.35, G=2.65)
is subjected to an upward seepage head of 2.0m. What depth of coarse sand is required
above the existing soil layer to provide a factor of safety of 2.0 against piping? Assume
that the coarse sand has the same porosity and specific gravity that of the soil and there is
negligible head loss in the sand layer.