10-1

10. Groundwater in geotechnical problems

Groundwater plays a key role in many geotechnical problems.
We will look at;
- land subsidence
- dewatering open pits
In the step 2 3, solid grains rearrange themselves to make
room for water. Porosity (n) increases.
A reverse step, 3 2, is called consolidation. In many cases
related to groundwater, the majority of consolidation is
vertical (land subsidence, diagenesis, etc.). In other words,
only the thickness of sediments changes.
Consolidation is induced by loading extra weight (building,
glacier, etc.). But loading alone cannot cause consolidation.
Consolidation of sediments
Remember the storage of water in sediments.
1 2 3
P and M
w
increase
10-2

e
P
Effective stress
Suppose an imaginary plane at some depth. It is
pushed from the above by the weight of water
and sediments. This force per unit area is total
stress (
T
).
The plane is pushed from the below by solid grains and water.
The force supported by solid grains per unit area is effective
stress (
e
). P is the pressure of water (pore pressure).
Effective stress keeps solid grains together, and pore pressure
pushes them apart.
load
water
In the vertical theory of consolidation,

T
=
e
+ P and d
T
= d
e
+ dP [10-1]
A change in total stress may cause no change in effective stress,
if d
T
= dP.
air
load
On the other hand, a significant increase
in
e
may happen without any change in

T
, if fluid pressure decreases.
10-3
Calculation of total stress and effective stress
Suppose a 1-m
2
column of soil. What are the
total stress (
T
) and effective stress (
e
) at the
bottom?
Assumptions
Hydrostatic condition
Wet bulk density (
wb
) of the soil is;
1900 kg/m
3
above the water table
2100 kg/m
3
below the water table

T
= (weight of the entire column)/(1 m
2
)
=
1 m
2
3
.
0

m
1
.
0

m

T
?
e
?
P =
w
g =

e
=
T
- P =
4
.
0

m

T
?
e
?
Now the soil column is saturated to the top.
What are
T
and
e
at the bottom?
What are the effects of water-table rise on the
mechanical strength of the soil?
10-4

e
b
Suppose that the base area of the slab is A (constant).
e
d
db
b

1
=
Compare this to the equation in page 4-6. We now see that
Eq.[10-3] is a special case (i.e. constant load) of [10-2].
Compressibility and stress-strain relationship
Lets define compressibility () in the context of consolidation.
Consider a slab of saturated sediments. We change the pore
pressure in the slab under constant load (d
T
= 0).
0 = d
T
= d
e
+ dP or d
e
= -dP
One-dimensional strain () is defined by:
b
db
=
The elastic behavior of the slab is given by a linear stress-strain
relationship (Hookes law):
e
d =
[10-2]
[10-3]
e e
d
dV
V d
Adb
Ab

1 1
= =
Noting that the volume (V) change is primarily caused by the
compaction or expansion of void volume (V
void
),
e
void
d
dV
V

1
=
Substituting d
e
= -dP,
dP
dV
V
void
1
=
10-5
Land subsidence
When an aquifer is pumped for a long time, pore pressure goes
down (dP < 0) while total stress is constant (d
T
= 0). As we
saw in Section 9, pumping induces drawdown in the aquifer.
Land subsidence can be explained using a
spring model. Suppose we open the valve
slightly and let water leak. Fluid pressure
gradually decreases and solid grains (springs)
support more and more load. This causes the
top plate to go down.
sand
clay
clay
load
This creates hydraulic gradient
between the aquifer and the
confining clay layers. Water is
squeezed out of the clay layers and
h in the clay layers goes down.
Recall that dh = d( + z) = d = dP/g at a fixed location.
Rearranging Eq. [10-2], we have db = -bd
e
But d
e
= - dP = -gd = -gdh
db = bg dh [10-4]
Therefore, drawdown (dh < 0) in confining layers results in
consolidation (db < 0). Clays generally have large , and db
can become very large.
For example, long-term pumping in the confined aquifer
under very thick lacustrine clays in the Mexico City caused
severe land subsidence (> 9 m).
10-6
Consolidation by ice sheet
Suppose the load suddenly increases. If the
valve is closed, the majority of extra load is
supported by water (d
T
dP).
d
e
0
Nothing happens to the top plate. The extra pressure (dP) is
called excess pore pressure. If the valve is opened, water
starts to leak and excess pore pressure slowly dissipates. In
the end, pressure goes back to the original value (dP = 0) and
the extra load is completely supported by the springs:
d
T
= d
e
This process took place during the last glacial period. After
the ice sheet retreated from the Great Plains, the total stress
dropped and the glacial till started rebounding. However,
because consolidation is irreversible, the glacial tills did not
fully bounce back to the initial thickness. This phenomena is
called overconsolidation.
If we inject water in the spring model, it will bounce back to
the original position. However, clay is not a perfect spring, and
they do not bounce back completely when water pressure goes
back to the original value. Consolidation is an irreversible
process.
Note also that consolidation of thick clay layers may take years
or decades because groundwater flow in clay is very slow.
10-7
Dewatering ditches and pits
Suppose we want to excavate a ditch parallel to a river.
d
x
z = 0
x
Flow lines have both vertical and horizontal components, but
they are mostly horizontal. In such case, we may assume that
the flow is strictly horizontal and make a rough estimate of
flow rate. By doing so, we are implying that there is no vertical
gradient of hydraulic head (h), or h is independent of depth.
Suppose an impermeable bedrock at some depth, and define z
= 0 at the bedrock surface. The h at the WT is numerically
equal to the distance (d) between the WT and the bedrock
surface. Since h does not change vertically h(x) = d(x) at any
depth.
Hydraulic conductivity (K) decreases drastically in the
unsaturated zone, and the majority of flow occurs in the zone
below the WT. Suppose that the ditch has a length w. The
volumetric flow rate (Q) entering the ditch is;
[10-5]
This is called Dupuit-Forchheimer (D-F) equation.
dx
dh
wKh
dx
dh
K wd Q =

=
10-8
d(x) = h(x)
x = 0
h = h
0
x = L
h = h
L
Rearranging Eq. [10-5],
wKhdh Qdx =
We can gain some physical insight by noting;
L
h h h h
wK
L
h h h h
wK Q
L L L L
) (
2
) (
2
) )( (
0 0 0 0
+
=
+
=
What does this mean?
Integrating both sides
from x = 0 to x = L,

=
L
h
h
L
hdh wK dx Q
0
0
( )
2
0
2
2
h h
L
wK
Q
L
=
[10-6]
(1) The flow direction is mostly horizontal.
(2) The system is at steady state in an approximate sense.
(3) The majority of flow occurs between the WT and the
bedrock surface.
The D-F equation and its solution [10-6] are commonly used
in geotechnical applications and also in studies of stream-
groundwater interaction. Note that h is measured from the bed
rock surface and that the following is required.
2
) 0 (
2
0
2
h h
wK L Q
L

=
10-9
Now, we look at a similar problem for a circular pit. Let r
0
be
the radius of the pit. Suppose, for now, that h = h
1
at some
distance (r
1
) away from the center of the pit.
r
r = r
0
Volumetric flow rate into a cylinder having an arbitrary r is
At steady state, Q is independent of r and is equal to the
amount of seepage into the pit. Upon rearranging,

=

1
0
1
0
2
r
r
h
h
hdh
r
dr
K
Q
[10-7]
d(r) = h(r)
r = r
0
h = h
0
r = r
1
h = h
1
Integrating both sides from r = r
0
to r = r
1
,
hdh
r
dr
K
Q
=
2
dr
dh
rKh
dr
dh
K rh Q 2 2 =

=
) (
2
1
ln
2
2
0
2
1
0
1
h h
r
r
K
Q
=

) / ln(
) (
0 1
2
0
2
1
r r
h h K
Q

=

This is the D-F solution in cylindrical coordinates. Note the
similarity between [10-7] and Thiem equation in page 9-12.