Unsaturated Seepage Modeling of Lined Canal Using SEEP/W

Abhijit Deka*
Assistant Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, Central Institute of Technology Kokrajhar, Kokrajhar - Assam, India.
Periodicity:December - February'2018
DOI : https://doi.org/10.26634/jce.8.1.14007

Abstract

Hydraulic characteristic is very essential to do any seepage modeling study for better understanding of the flow behavior through the soil. It was found in the literature, that seepage losses through the base of an irrigation canal effect significantly in the total volume of water flowing through it. The cracking occurs in concrete lined irrigation canal due to rise in water level and other environmental factors necessitate the use of flexible material like geo-synthetic on the canal surface instead of concrete. The main advantage of using this flexible material is that it eliminates the cracking phenomena and simultaneously reduces the seepage of water through canal to a considerable extent. To understand this, an effort was made by conducting a modeling study with the help of finite element based software SEEP/W. The study considers a two dimensional canal model to see the variation of seepage through the soil underneath the canal base and sides. In this work, the seepage variation was indirectly studied by observing the Pore Water Pressure (PWP) variation in the soil. The PWP changes with the change in the amount of water in the soil. The PWP for a saturated soil is positive, while for an unsaturated soil it belongs to negative range. The variation of PWP beneath the canal bed was noted and plotted against the depth. Based on this variation, the seepage losses for the lined and unlined canal were compared for different water head in the canal. The study indicates that there is a considerable influence of water head in the PWP variation. Also, application of liner in canal surface reduces the seepage losses which was confirmed by the high negative PWP.

Keywords

Canal, Geomembrane, Liner, Pore Water Pressure, SEEP/W.

How to Cite this Article?

Deka, A. (2018). Unsaturated Seepage Modeling of Lined Canal Using SEEP/W. i-manager's Journal on Civil Engineering, 8(1), 8-14. https://doi.org/10.26634/jce.8.1.14007

References

[1]. Abu-Khashaba, M. I. (2013). Innovating impermeable Concrete appropriate for Canal lining using a specific mixing ratio and applying it to a Pilot Reach. Journal of Engineering Sciences, 41(3), 900-918.
[2]. Ahmadi, H., Rahimi, H., & Abdollahi, J. (2009). Optimizing the Location of Contraction-expansion Joints in Concrete Canal Lining. Irrigation and Drainage, 58(1), 116- 125.
[3]. ASTM Standard D2487. (2008). Standard practice for Classification of Soils for Engineering Purposes (Unified Soil Classification System). ASTM International, West Conshohocken, PA, USA.
[4]. ASTM Standard D422. (2007). Standard test method for Particle-size analysis of Soils. ASTM International, West Conshohocken, PA, USA.
[5]. ASTM Standard D698. (2007). Standard test method for laboratory compaction characteristic of soil using standard effort (12400 ft-lb/ft3 (600 kN-m/m3 )). ASTM International, West Conshohocken, PA, USA.
[6]. ASTM Standard D854. (2006). Standard test method for Specific Gravity of Soil Solids by Water Pycnometer. ASTM International, West Conshohocken, PA, USA.
[7]. Bureau of Indian Standards. (1975). Methods of test for soil- Determination of dry density of soils in-place by the core- cutter method (IS 2720-29). New Delhi, India.
[8]. Bureau of Indian Standards. (1986). Methods of test for soil- Laboratory determination of permeability (IS 2720-17). New Delhi, India.
[9]. Fredlund, D. G., & Rahardjo, H. (1993). Soil Mechanics for Unsaturated Soils. John Wiley & Sons.
[10]. Ghosh, P., & Biswas, A. (2012). Effect of Reinforcement on Stability of Slopes using GEOSLOPE. International Conference on Benchmarks in Engineering Science and Technology, (pp. 29-32).
[11]. Jebelli, J., & Meguid, M. A. (2013). Soil Stability Analysis in Irrigation Canals: A Case Study. Electronic Journal of Geotechnical Engineering,18, 4153-4168.
[12]. Karad, M. M., Panke, R. A., & Hangargekar, P. A. (2013). Seepage losses through Canals and Minors. International Journal of Engineering Research & Technology, 2(11), 1125-1134.
[13]. Maghrebi, M. F., Azad, D., Mousavi, S. H., & Kazeran, H, S. (2011). Estimation of Water Leakage from Seam and Cracks of Concrete Lined Canals. ICID 21st Congress, (pp. 553-561).
[14]. Rahimi, H., Abbasi, N., & Shantia, H. (2011). Application of Geomembrane to Control Piping of Sandy Soil under Concrete Canal Lining (Case Study: Moghan Irrigation Project, Iran). Irrigation and Drainage, 60(3), 330- 337.
[15]. Rowshon, M. K., Mojid, M. A., Amin, M. S. M., Azwan, M., & Yazid, A. M. (2014). Improving irrigation Water Delivery performance of a Large-scale Rice Irrigation Scheme. Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering, 140(8), 1- 13.
[16]. Saeed, T. U., & Khan, T. A. (2014). Impact of Water Losses and Maintenance of Canal Irrigation System on Agriculture (Case Study: Urmar Minor of Warsak Gravity Canal Pakistan). American Journal of Experimental Agriculture, 4(5), 550-562.
[17]. Saha, B. (2015). A Critical Study of Water Loss in Canals and its Reduction Measures. International Journal of Engineering Research and Applications. 5(3), 53-56.
[18]. Sahu, P., Saxena, A. K., & Travadi, M. K. (2014). The use of Canal Lining Available Materials and its Comparative Study. IOSR Journal of Mechanical and Civil Engineering, 11(3), 81-86.
[19]. Sanjukumar, M. (2015). Irrigation and Development of Indian Agriculture: A Systematic Study. International Multidisciplinary Research Journal, 3(2), 1-10.
[20]. Sarand, F. B., & Bonab, M. H. (2017). Effect of Unsaturated Expansive Soils on Canal Linings: A Case Study on the Tabriz Plain Canal, Iran. Irrigation and Drainage, 66(3), 396-410.
[21]. SEEP/W (2007). Seepage Modeling with SEEP/W: An Engineering Methodology. Geo-Slope International Ltd.
[22]. Souliyavong, T., Gallage, C., Egodawatta, P., & Maher, B. (2012). Factors affecting the Stability analysis of Earth Dam Slopes Subjected to Reservoir Drawdown. In Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Geotechnique, Construction Materials and Environment, (pp. 507-512).
[23]. Uchdadiya, K. D., & Patel, J. N. (2014). Seepage Losses through Unlined and Lined Canals. International Journal of Advances in Applied Mathematics and Mechanics, 2(2), 88-91.
[24]. Vishnoi, R, P., & Saxena, R. (2014). Determination of Seepage Losses in Unlined Canals. National Conference on Innovations and Recent Trends in Engineering and Technology (pp. 6-9).
If you have access to this article please login to view the article or kindly login to purchase the article

Purchase Instant Access

Single Article

North Americas,UK,
Middle East,Europe
India Rest of world
USD EUR INR USD-ROW
Online 15 15

Options for accessing this content:
  • If you would like institutional access to this content, please recommend the title to your librarian.
    Library Recommendation Form
  • If you already have i-manager's user account: Login above and proceed to purchase the article.
  • New Users: Please register, then proceed to purchase the article.