UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN

DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL & ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING

Name:______________
Date:_______________

CEE 380 Fall 2013 HOMEWORK SOLUTIONS #4

Seepage (Due September 26, 2013)

PLEASE ADHERE TO THE HOMEWORK GUIDELINES POSTED ON COMPASS AND IN

THE SYLLABUS
SHOW ALL WORK FOR EACH PROBLEM ON ENGINEERING PAPER
SUBMIT YOUR SCANNED SOLUTION ON COMPASS2G
1. A soil sample is 250 mm long and 125 cm2 in cross-section. The water level at one end of the
block is 290 cm above a fixed reference point, and the water level at the other end is 115 cm
above the same reference point. The flow rate (Q) is 400 cm3 in 2 min.
a) hydraulic conductivity (permeability) of the specimen (cm/sec)
b) discharge velocity under the test conditions (cm/sec)
2. A falling head permeability test is run on a soil sample that is 10 cm long and 20 cm2 in crosssection. The standpipe has a cross-sectional area of 20 cm2 and the head drops from 30 cm to
15cm in 4 min 30 sec. Find the coefficient of permeability (k) of the soil sample and determine
the probable soil type.
3. For cases I, II, and III:

4m

4m

4m

1m

4m

4m

2m

C
B

5m
4m

A, Datum
D

D Datum

D
A

Case I

Case II

Datum

Case III

a) Determine the pressure head (hp), elevation head (he), and total head (ht), at points A, B
(center of sample), and C for each case. D is the location of the datum to be
considered.

Fall 2013

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN

DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL & ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING

b)

Name:______________
Date:_______________

Plot the variation of hp, he, and ht in the plots provided on the following pages (be
sure to plot your values such that they are easily distinguished from each other).
Submit these plots with the scanned copy of your homework.

Case I:
10

4m
Elevation (m)

4m

6
4
2

2m

Datum
Datum

0
-2

4
Head (m)

10

Case II:
10
8

Elevation (m)

4m
1m
4m

6
4
2

Datum

0
0

10

Head (m)

Fall 2013

5m Name:______________
Date:_______________
4m

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN

DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL & ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING

Case III:

Datum
10
8

Head (m)

4m

4
2
0

5m
4m

-2

Datum

10

Horizontal Distance (m)

10
8

Head (m)

c) Determine discharge velocity and seepage velocity if the soil specimen has k = 0.06 cm/s,
and e = 0.6 for each case.

4
2
0
-2

10

Horizontal Distance (m)

Fall 2013

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN

DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL & ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING

Name:______________
Date:_______________

4. A permeability apparatus is designed to be a rectangular tube with height of 20 cm and side

length of 10 cm. The coefficients of permeability of Soil 1 and Soil 2 are 0.05cm/sec and
0.01cm/sec, respectively. Compute the discharge q (cm3/sec) for each case:
Only Soil 1 is filled.
Soil 1 and Soil 2 are filled parallel to each other.
Soil 1 is filled on top of Soil 2.

Fall 2013

Soil 1

h=25 cm

h=25 cm

Soil 1

5 cm 5 cm

L2=10cm L1=10cm

10 cm

L=20 cm

Soil 1

Case III

Case II

h=25 cm

L=20 cm

Case I

Soil 2

Case I:
Case I:
Case III:

Soil 2
10 cm