MODULE 3
SYLLABUS - Drainage methods- Methods of dewatering systems-Open
sump, Well points, Vacuum and electro osmotic methods
Drains-type-drainage facility after construction-Foundation drain,
Blanket drain, Interceptor drains
Precompression and Vertical Drain – Preloading, Vertical drain-General
principle, Soil suitability, Type-sand drain, PVD-Installation procedure
Hydraulic Modification:
• Free pore water is forced out of soil via drains or wells.
• Coarse grained soils; it is achieved by lowering the ground water level
through pumping from boreholes, or trenches.
• In fine grained soils the long term application of external loads (preloading)
or electrical forces (electro osmotic stabilization)
INSTALLATION
• A cased bore hole of dia of about 200 to 300 mm larger than the well
casing
• Inner well casing inserted after completion of bore hole.
• A perforated screen is installed over the length of soil that requires
dewatering.
• The un perforated pipe acts as the sump to collect any fine material this
might be drawn through the filter mesh.
• The graded filter material is placed between well casing and outer borehole
casing over the length to be dewatered.
• The outer casing is withdrawn in stages as the filter material is placed.
• The space above the screen is backfilled with any available material .
Mechanism
Cation (positive ions) are formed in pore water when the dissolved minerals go
into solution. These cations move towards the negatively charged surface of
clay minerals to satisfy the electrical charge. As the water molecules act as
dipoles, the cations also attract the negative end of dipoles. When the cations
move to the cathode, they take with them the attached water molecules.
Installation of System
Anodes are in the form of steel rods located near toe of the slope of the
excavation. Cathodes are in the form of perforated pipes, resembling well
points, installed in the soil mass about 4~5 m away from the slope of cut. The
electrodes are so arranged that the natural direction of flow of water is reversed
and is directed away from the excavation. This arrangement is required to
prevent sloughing of the slopes.
System Requirements
The system requires about 20~30 amperes of electricity per well at a voltage of
40~180v. The consumption of energy is between .5 to 10 KWh/of soil drained.
Limitation of Electro-Osmosis
This process requires specialized and sophisticated equipment as well as
electrical consumption of high amount is associated with this process. Thus it is
a highly expensive drainage process compared with other method.
Suitability
This method should be used only in exception cases when other method can not
be used. It is normally used to drain water in a cohesive soil of low permeability
DESIGN STEPS FOR DEWATERING SYSTEMS
• Design of a dewatering system requires the determination of the number, size, spacing, and penetration of wells
or well points and the rate at which water must be removed from the pervious strata to achieve the required
groundwater lowering or pressure relief.
• The size and capacity of pumps and collectors also depend on the required discharge and drawdown.
• The essential steps involved in the designing of the dewatering system are given below:
SUBSOIL INVESTIGATION
• The characteristics of the soils adjacent and beneath the excavation should be investigated well. Grain size
distribution and permeability are the two parameters to be determined.
• Indian Standard recommends a field pumping test for this case.
SOURCE AND WATER TABLE DETAILS
• Source of seepage and knowledge of the water table at a particular site are the most important factors to be
considered while designing a dewatering system.
• The source of seepage depends on the geological features of the area, nearby streams or water bodies and amount
of drawdown.
• A flow may be from an aquifer being drained the distance to which is known as the radius of influence.
• It can be estimated from the draw down curve established from a field pumping test.
DISTANCE OF WELL POINTS FROM THE SOURCE OF SEEPAGE
• If the radius of influence R is large compared to the radius of the well, only an approximate
estimation of R may be sufficient since the discharge is not much sensitive to the value of R
• An accurate estimation of the distance L from the well to the river should be made for a particular
dewatering system, since the discharge is inversely proportional to the value of L.
EFFECTIVE WALL RADIUS
• The effective wall radius is decided based on the installation of the wells with or without filter.
• If a well is installed without gravel or a sand filter the effective radius can be taken as one half
the outer diameter of the well screen.
• If a filter is used, the well radius is taken as one half the outside diameter of the filter.
DISCHARGE COMPUTATIONS
• The discharge Q of the well is then calculated using the formula given below:
• where Q is the discharge, k is the permeability, H is the depth of strata, h is the height of water in
the well, r is the radius of well, R is the radius of influence.
• Design of filters
• Design & selection of well screens
• Selection of pumps and accessories
• Well pointing in deep excavation
• Deep bored wells
• Control of surface water