Permeability and seepage 223

5.84+5
2

(1.67j

=9.81(18.8+16.36+121.92+8.68+9.05j
=1714.9 kN,m
5.16 Flow nets in anisotropic material
In developing the procedure described in Sec. 5.14 for plotting flow nets, we
assumed that the permeable layer is isotropic, i.e., l
horizontal
=l
vertical
=l. Let
us now consider the case of constructing flow nets for seepage through soils
that show anisotropy with respect to permeability. For two-dimensional
flow problems, we refer to Eq. (5.93):
l
x
o
2
l
ox
2
+l
z
o
2
l
oz
2
=0
where l
x
=l
horizontal
and l
z
=l
vertical
. This equation can be rewritten as
o
2
l
(l
z
,l
x
jox
2
+
o
2
l
oz
2
=0 (5.128)
Let x

l
z
,l
x
x, then
o
2
l
(l
z
,l
x
jox
2
=
o
2
l
ox
2
(5.129)
Substituting Eq. (5.129) into Eq. (5.128), we obtain
o
2
l
ox
2
+
o
2
l
oz
2
=0 (5.130)
Equation (5.130) is of the same form as Eq. (5.94), which governs the
flow in isotropic soils and should represent two sets of orthogonal lines in
the x

z plane. The steps for construction of a flow net in an anisotropic

medium are as follows:
1. To plot the section of the hydraulic structure, adopt a vertical scale.
2. Determine

l
z
l
x
=

l
vertical
l
horizontal
3. Adopt a horizontal scale such that scale
horizontal
=

l
z
l
x
(scale
vertical
j
4. With the scales adopted in steps 1 and 3, plot the cross-section of the
structure.