DEWATERING

TECHNIQUES
• Dewatering is a process of removal of water from a foundation pit when it is situated
below the ground water table.
• It is commonly adopted in civil engineering practice to create water-free space for
construction below the existing groundwater table.
• To facilitate construction of basements, power house, pumping stations and laying
underground pipeline for different engineering purpose.
 Purpose of Dewatering and Drainage

• To control seepage into excavation either by pumping the water out of the excavation or
lowering.
• It depends on sub-soil stratification, presence of water bearing stratum, aquifer parameter
and in-situ permeability.
• It helps in reducing the harmful effects of groundwater
• It leads to pre-drainage of soil, control of groundwater and even the improvement of
physical properties of soil.
 Methods of dewatering

• Ditches and sumps

• Well point system
• Shallow well system
• Deep well system
• Vacuum method
• Electro-osmosis method
• Ground freezing method
Advantages:-
• Lower the WT and intercept in flowing seepage
• Improve the stability of slopes and prevent from failure
• Prevent heaving of bottom of excavation.
• Reduce lateral pressure on temporary sheeting and bracing

Disadvantages:-
Doing in unplanned manner may cause damage to the adjacent properties
Under some condition, it may be harmful to the environment.
It is artificial means of removing excess groundwater from soil for favourable
condition of any construction.
It controls the hydrostatic pressure and seepage, thereby increasing the stability of
excavation slopes or foundation soil.
For low permeability soil like clay and silty clay(k< 10^-6) do not posses much
problem with seepage
For medium to high degree of permeability (k>10^-5) suitable dewatering scheme
has to be worked out.
 Well Points
• It is most suitable for soil containing of sand and gravel that are shallow aquifer where
the water level needs to be lowered not more than 4.5m or 6m.
• There are no. of well points spaced along trench or around an excavation site connected
to header
• They are smaller in diameter (15cm) inserted in ground from which water is drawn
• Riser pipe connected together with those of other well points in system to header pipe
that is connected with air separation chamber which continuous remove air.
• The discharge water is connected to disposal pipe
• Diameter of pipe 50mm-80mm
• Length of pipe 0.61m-1.07m
• Well points are suitable for from coarse silt to fine gravel.
• It is also effective in stratified soils when installed in a properly designed filter column.
• Filter wells usually consist of 1m long screen having 60-75mm diameter surrounding a
central riser pipe.
• The spacing between well points are 0.75-1.0m for fine to medium soil and 1.5m for silty
sand
• Gather details of adjacent properties and engineering properties of each soil layer.
• It costly and require maintenance
• Advantage- it is very flexible and effective method in sand and gravel
• Disadvantage- It is limited to 5m or 6m below level of pump due to limited efficiency.
 Vacuum dewatering system

• Gravity method such as well points and deep wells are not much in fine soil having 0.1-
10×10-3mm/sec. such soil can be dewatered by applying a vacuum to pipping system.
• A vacuum dewatering system requires that the well-point screens, and rise a pipe be
surrounded with filter sand extending to within a few meters of the ground surface.
• This method is most suitable in layered or stratified soils with coefficient of
permeability of the range 0.11 - 0 x 10 -4 cm/s.
• Top is sealed, required vacuum is applied to increase hydraulic gradient for the flow.
• It is common to use suction pump in this system and height of lift 3m-6m.
 Electro-osmosis

• Electro-osmosis is electrical method, used to densify the in-situ cohesive soil.

• Stabilization of soil is assisted by influence of electric field which is used to facilitate
consolidation of fine grained soil.
• Suitable for soil permeability 10^-4 and 10^-6 cm/sec
• It involves placing no of electrodes in soil by passing direct current
• Current flow anode to cathode(-ve charged clay attracted to anode)
• Cathode( well point) is spaced at 6m-9m apart.
 Principle Involved
• When an external electro motive force is applied
across a solid liquid interface the movable diffuse
double layer is displaced to the fixed layer .
• As the surface of fine grained soil particles causes-
ve charge, the +ve ions in solution are attracted
towards the soil particles and concentrate near the
surfaces.
• Upon application of the electro motive force
between two electrodes in a soil medium the +ve
ions adjacent to the soil particles and the water
molecules attached to the ions are attracted to the
cathode and are repelled by the anode.
• The free water in the interior of the void spaces is
carried along to the cathode.
• By making the cathode a well, water can be
collected in the well and then pumped out.
Determination of flow rate and energy consumption
 Factors influencing electro-osmosis method

• Electrical potential
• Current density
• Change in viscosity
• pH of soil
• Temperature
• Surface conductance
• Cation exchange capacity of soil
Advantage
• Can be used where gravity drainage is not possible
• To improve stability of cuts and trenches
• To increase the bearing capacity of friction piles
• Over no of years as ground improvement method to dewater, consolidate soft soil deposit
and desalination
 Estimation of seepage analysis for fully and partially penetrating wells
• The first requirement of dewatering job is to estimate the rate of seepage into the
excavation for a certain degree of dewatering.
• For this, the excavation is considered as large circular well from which water is
pumped out to affect the desired groundwater lowering.
• No of wells are placed along the periphery of excavation and water is to be drawn
out all wells to affect the drawdown.