Engineering Geology

(EG)

Suraj Kumar Bhagat

Faculty of Civil Engineering, Ton Duc Thang University,
Vietnam
surajenv@gmail.com
 Summary of course content
(The course includes the following main contents)
{updated}
Part 3:
6. The rules of movement of underground water
6.1 Permeability laws.
6.2 Movement of underground water in a homogeneous soil
layer.
6.3 Stable movement of groundwater in heterogeneous soil
6.4 Stable movement of groundwater to a water pumping
bore.
6.5 Stable movement of underground water to water
pumping holes simultaneously
6.6 Methods for determining permeability coefficient

"Water, Water, Everywhere..."

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 Correlations of Grain Size to Hydraulic
Conductivity
• The saturated hydraulic conductivity K
is a function of the size and distribution
of pores in a material.

• For granular materials, it makes sense

that some correlation exists between
the particle sizes and K.

• No correlation of this sort will be very

accurate, since grain sizes are not a
perfect measure of the size,
orientation, and connectedness of
pores.

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 Correlations of Grain Size to Hydraulic
Conductivity
• Hazen (1911) proposed the following empirical relation, based on
experiments with various sand samples:

where
 K is hydraulic conductivity in cm/sec,
 C is a constant with units of (cm·sec)-1,
 and d10 is the grain diameter in centimeters such that grains this size or smaller represent 10% of the
sample mass.
 Note that this equation requires a fixed set of units.
 With units of centimeters and cm/sec, the constant C varies from about 40 to 150 for most sands.
 C is at the low end of this range for fine, widely graded sands, and C is near the high end of the range
for coarse, narrowly graded sands.
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 Correlations of Grain Size to Hydraulic
Conductivity
• A widely used empirical correlation for granular materials that accounts for the
spread of grain sizes is the Kozeny–Carmen equation (modified from Bear,
1972):

where
 ρwg/μ is the unit weight/viscosity of water,
 n is porosity, and d50 is the median grain diameter.
 The porosity term n3/(1 − n)2 is significantly smaller for widely graded (poorly sorted)
materials.
 This is sensible, since pore size in a poorly sorted material will tend to be smaller than in a
well sorted material with the same d50.
 The Kozeny–Carmen equation is dimensionally consistent, so it may be used with any
consistent
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set of units.
 PROBLEM 1: Examine the two grain size curves shown in Figure 2.6. Use the Hazen and
Kozeny–Carmen correlations to estimate the K of each soil.

For use in the Hazen formula, d10 = 0.1 mm = 0.01 cm for both soils. For both soils, C =
100 to 150 would be appropriate.
• Given these parameters, the Hazen formula gives

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 PROBLEM 1: Examine the two grain size curves shown in Figure 2.6. Use the Hazen and
Kozeny–Carmen correlations to estimate the K of each soil.

The median diameter of the fine sand is d50 = 0.24 mm = 0.024 cm.
With these parameters and n = 0.38
• For the Kozeny–Carmen equation,
• assume ρwg = 9810 N/m3 and μ = 1.4 × 10−3 N·sec/m2.
• the estimated conductivity of the fine sand is

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 PROBLEM 1: Examine the two grain size curves shown in Figure 2.6. Use the Hazen and
Kozeny–Carmen correlations to estimate the K of each soil.

The gravelly sand has a median diameter of d50 = 0.8 mm = 0.08 cm. With these
parameters and n = 0.29,

• The Kozeny–Carmen equation estimates

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 PROBLEM 1: Examine the two grain size curves shown in Figure 2.6. Use the Hazen and
Kozeny–Carmen correlations to estimate the K of each soil.

• The Hazen formula gives; K

• The Kozeny–Carmen equation estimates K

For these samples,

 The Kozeny–Carmen equation predicts K values that are 3–10 times higher
than the values predicted by the Hazen formula.
 From the results of the above example, it is clear that K estimates based on
grain size correlations are rough.
 The values derived in this manner should be viewed as only “ball park” values,
giving a sense of the order of magnitude of K.
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 Laboratory Hydraulic Conductivity Tests
• The lab techniques presented here use the
same concept as Darcy’s original experiment.
• Flow is induced through a saturated sample,
and the head difference across the sample is
measured.
• Darcy’s law is applied to the results, giving an
estimate of K.

where
dh0 and dh1 are the head differences(dh) across
the sample at times t1 and t0
K is the conductivity; L is length of sample
A = sample area (π𝑟𝐴2 )
a = burette
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area (π𝑟𝑎2 )
 PROBLEM: A falling-head permeameter test is to be performed on a sample of sandy
silt. The estimated conductivity of the sample is 10−5 cm/sec. The sample is a cylinder
30 cm long and 10 cm in diameter. The burette diameter is 8 mm. With this sample
and apparatus, estimate how long it will take for a given head difference to fall to half
its initial value.

• A smaller diameter burette could be used to speed up the test, if 3.7 hours
is too long.
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 Flow in Fractured Rock
• Flow in fractured rock is difficult to analyze for several reasons.
• For one, flow occurs along discrete fractures, the distribution and
properties of which are mostly unknown.
• It is generally not possible to map the location and orientation of the
important water-bearing fractures in the subsurface, or to know their
aperture (width) and roughness.
• Flow in some larger fractures is turbulent as opposed to laminar, so
Darcy’s law should not be applied to these.

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 Flow in Fractured Rock

Where:
 N is the number of fractures per unit width normal to the fracture
planes, and
 b is the aperture of each fracture.
µ (dynamic viscosity of Water) = 1.4 × 10−3 N·sec/m2
Real fractures do not occur in perfectly planar and uniform sets, but this
equation can give rough estimates where hydraulic testing is lacking.

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 PROBLEM: Estimate the equivalent continuum Kx for a granite that has,
on average, one fracture parallel to the x direction per 2 m distance
normal to the fractures. The average aperture of each fracture is 0.3 mm.

• Since b is raised to the third power in these equations, aperture has

tremendous impact on the result.
• Uncertainty in the value of average b magnifies into large uncertainty in
Kx .
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 Unsaturated Flow Measuring Pressures below Atmospheric
(Tensiometer)
Tensiometer: is used to measure head and pressure in the unsaturated
zone
The tensiometer consists of a
fine-grained porous ceramic
cup connected to a sealed
pipe that is filled with water.

A pressure gage connected to

the sealed tube measures the
water pressure near the top
of the sealed tube.
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 Unsaturated Flow Measuring Pressures below Atmospheric
(Tensiometer)
for the pressure head at the porous The pressure at the porous cup is
cup gives: calculated from the pressure head:

Where,
Pressure at the gage = PA
pressure gage at elevation = ZA
porous cup at elevation = ZB
ρwg = 9810 N/m3
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 Problems
• A tensiometer is installed with the porous cup at elevation 141.30 m and the
pressure gage at elevation 142.90 m. The pressure measured at the gage is
−19,780 N/m2. Calculate the pressure head and pressure at the porous cup.

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 Quantity Estimation
of
Storm Water

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 Factors Affecting the Quantity of Stormwater
i. Area of the catchment
ii. Slope and shape of the catchment area
iii. Porosity of the soil
iv. Obstruction in the flow of water as trees, fields, gardens,
etc.
v. Initial state of catchment area with respect to wetness.
vi. Intensity and duration of rainfall
vii. Atmospheric temperature and humidity
viii. Number and size of ditches present in the area

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Measurement of Rainfall
• The rainfall intensity could be measured by using rain gauges and
recording the amount of rain falling in unit time

• The rainfall intensity is usually expressed as mm/hour or cm/hour

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 General Idea and Terms

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Time of Concentration
• The period after which
• the entire catchment area will start contributing to the runoff

• The runoff will be maximum when the duration of rainfall is equal to

the time of concentration and is called as critical rainfall duration.

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 Inlet Time
• The time required for the rain in falling on the
• most remote point of the tributary area
to
• flow across the ground surface along the natural drains or
gutters
up to
• inlet of sewer is called “inlet time”

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 Time of Travel
• The time required by the water
• to flow in the drain channel
from
• the mouth
to
• the point under consideration or the point of concentration

Time ofTravel
Time of Travel
(Tt) =(Tt)
Length=ofLength of drain/
drain/ velocity in drain velocity in drain

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 Runoff Coefficient

• The total precipitation falling on any area is dispersed as percolation,

evaporation, storage in ponds or reservoir and surface runoff.

• The runoff coefficient can be defined as a fraction, which is multiplied

with the quantity of total rainfall to determine the quantity of rain
water, which will reach the sewers.

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 Runoff Coefficient

• Overall runoff coefficient,

C = [A1.C1 + A2.C2 + ….+ An.Cn] / [ A1 + A2 + …+ An]

• Where, A1, A2, ….An are types of area with C1, C2, …Cn as
their coefficient of runoff, respectively.

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Methods for Estimation of Quantity of Storm
Water

1. Rational Method
2. Empirical formulae method

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 Rational method
• Storm water quantity, Q = C.I.A / 360

Where,
Q = Quantity of storm water, m3/sec
C = Coefficient of runoff
I = intensity of rainfall (mm/hour) for the duration equal to
time of concentration, and
A = Drainage area in hectares

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 Empirical Formulae
• Empirical formulae are used for determination of runoff
from very large area.

Where,
S- Slope of the area in
meter per thousand
meter,
M- drainage area in sq.
km.,
A – drainage area in
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hectare)
 Empirical formulae for rainfall
intensities
• These relationships between rainfall intensity and duration
are developed based on long term experience in field
• Under Indian conditions, intensity of rainfall in design is
usually I

• I = a / (t + b) OR I = b / tn the range 12 mm/h to 20 mm/h.

• Where, a, b, and n are constants.

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 Empirical formulae for rainfall
intensities

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 Empirical formulae for rainfall
intensities

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Example

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 Solution

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 Solution Continue…

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11/29/2021 Thank you