Example:

An earth dam made of a homogeneous material has the following data:

Coefficient of permeability of dam material = 5x10 -4cm/sec
Level of top of dam =200m
Level of deepest river bed =178m
H.F.L. of reservoir = 19.5m
Width of the top of dam = 4.5m
Upstream slope = 3:1
Downstream slope =2:1
Determine the phreatic line for this dam section and the discharge passing through the dam.
Solution:
Since there is no horizontal filter the focus point (F) will be at the toe of the dam as origin, and
the equation of the base parabola is given by;

Now, ̅̅̅̅ ̅̅̅̅ = 0.3x(19.5x3) = 17.5m

So the coordinates of point A with respect to F as origin are (73.5m, 19.5m).
Substituting these ordinates in the equation of parabola, we get

√
= 2.54m
The vertex of the base parabola (pt C) shall be situated at = 1.27m from point F, beyond the toe
of the dam.
Now, we can derive some values of x,y coordinates using the equation as,
As d/s slope is given as 2:1 which implies that
√
tan-1(1/2) = 26.56o …. α < 30o
√
2
0 2.54 𝑏′ 𝑏′ 𝐻2
Then, 𝑎 − −
cos 𝛼 𝑐𝑜𝑠 2 𝛼 𝑠𝑖𝑛2 𝛼
10 7.68
Where, b’ =56m
20 10.39
30 12.61
H = 19.5m
40 14.48 Sin 26.56o = 0.447
50 16.14 Cos 26.54o = 0.894
60 17.64 56 562 19 52
𝑎 − 2
−
70 19.02 0 894 0 894 0 4472

73.5 19.5 = 17.7m

Hence, using the x,y coordinate and the distance a (point k) the phreatic line BIK is completed.
And the discharge through the dam section will be

=5x10-6x2.54
=12.7x10-6 m2/s/m length of dam
Example:
A flow net is platted for a homogeneous earthen dam of height 22m and freeboard 2m. the results
obtained are,
Number of potential drops = 10
Number of flow channels = 4
The dam has a horizontal filter of 30m length at the d/s end and the coefficient of permeability of
the dam material is 5x10-4cm/s. Calculate the discharge per m of the dam.
Solution;
The discharge through a dam section is given by;
Where, K = 5x10-4cm/s = 5x10-6 m/s.

H = 22-2 = 20m
Nf = 4
Nd = 10
-6 2
⸫ = 40x10 m /s/m length of dam
Assignment 2:
A section of a homogeneous earth dam is shown below. Calculate the seepage
discharge per meter length through the body of the dam and draw the phreatic line
in a mm paper. The coefficient of permeability of the dam material may be taken
as 8x10-5 m/s.
4m

2m

12m