Tutorial 07 Finite Element Groundwater Seepage
Tutorial 07 Finite Element Groundwater Seepage
Introduction
Within the Slide program, Slide has the capability to carry out a finite
element groundwater seepage analysis, for saturated / unsaturated,
steady state flow conditions.
The Groundwater Analysis in Slide allows the user to define and analyze
a groundwater problem, using the same model as for the slope stability
problem. The boundaries of the problem only need to be defined once, and
will be used for both the groundwater analysis and the slope stability
analysis.
NOTE:
Groundwater Modeling
The groundwater modeling options in Slide are all contained within the
Slide Model program.
• When you are in Groundwater analysis mode, the menu and toolbar
will present all of the necessary groundwater modeling options.
Project Settings
In order to perform a groundwater analysis, the first thing that must be
done, is to set the Groundwater Method in Project Settings to Finite
Element Analysis.
The Slide toolbar will now display an Analysis Mode option, as described
below.
• The Slope Stability analysis mode allows you to define the elements
of your model which are relevant to the slope stability analysis.
Boundaries
The SAME boundaries are used in both the groundwater and slope
stability analysis. However, the model boundaries can only be defined
when the Analysis Mode = Slope Stability.
• You MUST create the model boundaries, when Analysis Mode = Slope
Stability.
For details about defining boundaries in Slide, see the previous tutorials,
or the Slide Help system.
Meshing
The groundwater analysis in Slide is a finite element analysis, and
therefore a finite element mesh is required in order to solve the problem.
• the user can do this with a single mouse click, by selecting the
Discretize and Mesh option. This will automatically create a
graded finite element mesh within your model boundaries.
Boundary Conditions
Once the finite element mesh is satisfactory, the user must then set up
the boundary conditions which define the groundwater problem they
wish to solve. This is done with the Set Boundary Conditions option,
which allows the user to define all of the necessary pressure and flow
boundary conditions along the model boundaries, or at any other node(s)
of the mesh.
Hydraulic Properties
The permeability (hydraulic conductivity) characteristics of each material
are defined with the Define Hydraulic Properties option. You may
define a saturated permeability for each material. In addition, various
models are available for defining the unsaturated permeability, or the
user may create a user-defined permeability function.
Groundwater Compute
• You will see a Compute dialog while the analysis is running. When
the analysis is finished, you will be returned to the Slide MODEL
program.
After you have computed the groundwater analysis, you should view the
results of the groundwater analysis, by selecting the Interpret
(groundwater) option.
If the groundwater analysis results are satisfactory, then you can return
to the Slide MODEL program, switch the Analysis Mode = Slope
Stability, and proceed with your slope stability analysis.
When you select the slope stability Compute option, the slope stability
analysis will automatically use the pore pressures calculated from the
groundwater analysis.
Groundwater Interpret
Groundwater Tutorial
We will begin with the same model used for Tutorial 05 (the Water
Pressure Grid tutorial). However, rather than read in a Water Pressure
Grid from a file, we will carry out a seepage analysis in order to
determine the pore pressures within the slope.
We will then re-run the slope stability analysis, and compare the results
with Tutorial 05.
MODEL FEATURES:
Model
Open the Tutorial 05 Water Pressure Grid.sli file which you will find
in the Examples > Tutorials folder of your Slide installation folder.
Project Settings
In order to perform a groundwater analysis with Slide, the FIRST thing
you must always do, is to set the Groundwater Method = Finite Element
Analysis, in Project Settings.
In the Project Settings dialog, select the Groundwater Tab, and set the
Groundwater Method = Finite Element Analysis. Select OK.
• the Water Pressure Grid (the grid of blue triangles) has disappeared
from the model. Since we will be obtaining pore pressures from the
Groundwater Analysis, the Water Pressure Grid will not be used, and
has been automatically deleted.
• the Water Table which was used for defining the ponded water in
Tutorial 5, has also been deleted. When we define the groundwater
boundary conditions, ponded water will automatically be created
based on the total head boundary conditions.
• The Analysis Mode option now appears in the Slide toolbar. The
Analysis Mode allows you to switch between Slope Stability Analysis
Mode, and Groundwater Analysis Mode.
To begin with, we will use Slope Stability Analysis mode, since we have
to do a bit of editing to the boundaries. (Boundary defining and editing
can only be done in Slope Stability Analysis Mode).
Boundary Editing
Before we proceed with the groundwater modeling, we have to make one
small modification to the external boundary.
The two vertices you have added define the level of the water table
(phreatic surface) at the slope face, and at the right edge of the model.
These vertices will be necessary in order to correctly assign the total head
boundary conditions.
When the Analysis Mode = Groundwater, you will notice that the menus
and toolbars are updated:
Also notice that the Search Grid (for the circular surface Grid Search)
and the Slope Limits symbols, are not displayed, when you are in
Groundwater Analysis Mode.
In general:
Meshing
The groundwater analysis in Slide is a finite element analysis, and
therefore a finite element mesh is required in order to solve the problem.
You can create the finite element mesh, with a single mouse click, by
selecting the Discretize and Mesh option. In one step, this will
automatically:
NOTE:
• For this simple model, the default mesh generated by the Discretize
and Mesh option, is adequate.
• However, note that Slide allows total user control over the generation
and customization of the mesh. If the mesh requires customization,
many different options are available in the Mesh menu, which allow
the user to customize the mesh as necessary.
Boundary Conditions
After the finite element mesh has been generated, the user must then
define the boundary conditions which define the groundwater problem
they wish to solve.
This is done with the Set Boundary Conditions option, which allows
the user to define all of the necessary pressure and flow boundary
conditions along the model boundaries, or at any other node(s) of the
mesh.
• the bottom and side edges of the external boundary, are given the
Zero Nodal Flow boundary condition.
1. First select Zoom All (you can use the F2 function key), to make sure
the model is fully zoomed in the view.
2. Now, make sure the Total Head boundary condition option is selected
in the Set Boundary Conditions dialog, as shown above.
3. In the dialog, enter a Total Head Value = 26 meters. Also make sure
the Pick by: External Segment option is selected.
6. When the segments are selected, right-click the mouse and select
Assign. A boundary condition of Total Head = 26 meters is now
assigned to these line segments. (Notice that the program has
automatically created ponded water corresponding to a Total Head =
26 meters. See the next page for more information).
7. Now enter a Total Head Value = 31.8 meters in the dialog. Select the
lower right segment of the external boundary. Right-click and select
Assign.
• However, for the slope stability analysis, the ponded water will be
used in the analysis (i.e. the weight and hydrostatic force of the
ponded water, will be taken into account in the slope stability
analysis). This ponded water will have the same effect as the ponded
water defined by the Water Table in Tutorial 5.
Hydraulic Properties
The last thing we have to do to complete the groundwater model, is
define the hydraulic properties (permeability) of the slope material.
NOTE: the model used for this tutorial and the Water Pressure Grid
tutorial, is based on a model from the 1989 ACADS soil slope stability
programs review. (Giam, P.S.K. & I.B. Donald 1989, Example problems
for testing soil slope stability programs, Civil Engineering Research
Report No. 8 / 1989, Monash University, Australia). The value of Ks
comes from this reference.
ALSO NOTE: Since we are dealing with a single material model, and
since you entered properties with the first (default) tab selected, you do
not have to Assign these properties to the model. Slide automatically
assigns the default properties (i.e. the properties of the first material in
the Define Material Properties dialog) for you.
We are now finished with the groundwater modeling, and can proceed to
run the groundwater analysis.
Compute (groundwater)
Before you analyze your model, save it as a file called gw1.sli. (Slide
model files have a .SLI filename extension).
Use the Save As dialog to save the file. You are now ready to run the
analysis.
• When you are doing a groundwater analysis with Slide, when you
save the file, TWO files are actually saved: an .SLI file which
contains the slope stability modeling information, and an .SLW file,
which contains the groundwater modeling information.
Interpret (groundwater)
We can now view the results of the groundwater analysis in the Slide
INTERPRET program.
By default, you will see contours of Pressure Head on the model. The
Legend in the upper left corner of the view, indicates the values of the
contours.
The contour display can be customized with the Contour Options dialog,
which is available in the View menu, or the right-click menu. This is left
as an optional exercise for the user to explore, after completing this
tutorial.
Water Table
You will notice on the plot, a pink line which is displayed on the model.
This line highlights the location of the Pressure Head = 0 contour
boundary.
The display of the Water Table can be turned on or off using the toolbar
shortcut, the Display Options dialog, or the right-click shortcut (right-
click ON the Water Table and select Hide Water Table).
• the Water Table determined from the groundwater analysis (in this
tutorial)
• with the Water Table which we entered in Tutorial 5, for the slope
stability analysis.
You will see that the location of the Water Table is very similar in both
models.
Also notice that the contours of Pressure Head, above the Water Table,
have negative values. The negative pressure head calculated above the
water table, is commonly referred to as the “matric suction” in the
unsaturated zone. This is discussed later in the tutorial.
Flow Vectors
Right click the mouse and select Display Options. Select the
Groundwater tab. Toggle ON the Flow Vectors option. Toggle OFF all of
the Boundary Condition options. Select Done. (Flow Vectors and other
Display Options can also be toggled on or off with shortcut buttons in the
toolbar.)
NOTE: the relative size of the flow vectors (as displayed on the screen),
corresponds to the magnitude of the flow velocity. Select Total Discharge
Velocity contours (from the toolbar list), and verify this. The size of the
flow vectors can be scaled in the Display Options dialog. This is left as an
optional exercise.
Now turn off the flow vectors by re-selecting the flow vectors option from
the toolbar.
Flow Lines
Select Total Head contours again.
We can also add Flow Lines to the plot. Flow lines can be added
individually, with the Add Flow Line option. Or multiple flow lines can be
automatically generated with the Add Multiple Flow Lines option.
1. First, make sure the Snap option is enabled in the Status Bar. If not,
then click on the Snap option in the Status Bar (or you can right click
the mouse and enable Snap from the popup menu).
5. You will then see a dialog. Enter a value of 8 and select OK.
The generation of the flow lines may take a few seconds. Your screen
should look as follows.
Notice that the flow lines are perpendicular to the Total Head contours.
(Note: only 6 flow lines are displayed, although we entered a value of 8,
because the first and last flow lines are exactly on the boundary, and are
not displayed.)
Now delete the flow lines (select Delete Flow Lines from the toolbar, right
click and select Delete All, and select OK in the dialog which appears).
Iso-Lines
An iso-line is a line of constant contour value, displayed on a contour plot.
Click the mouse on the Water Table line (if Snap is enabled, the cursor
will snap exactly on the Water Table). You will then see the Add Iso-Line
dialog.
The dialog will display the exact value (Pressure Head) of the location at
which you clicked. It may not be exactly zero, so enter zero in the dialog,
and select the Add button.
Queries
Another useful feature of the INTERPRET program, is the ability to
create a Query, to obtain detailed analysis results.
1. The Snap option should still be enabled. Click the mouse on the
vertex at the crest of the slope, at coordinates (50 , 35).
2. Enter the coordinates (50 , 20) in the prompt line, as the second point
(or if you have the Ortho Snap option enabled, you can enter this
graphically).
3. Right click and select Done, or press Enter. You will see the following
dialog.
5. The query will be created, as you will see by the vertical line
segment, and the display of interpolated values at the 20 points along
the line segment.
7. Now we can graph this data with the Graph Material Queries option
(in the Groundwater > Query menu or the toolbar).
8. A shortcut to graph data for a single query, is to right click the mouse
ON the Query line. Do this now, and select Graph Data from the
popup menu. A graph will be immediately generated, as shown in
Figure 7-8.
The Query we have created, gives us the pressure head along a vertical
line from the crest of the slope to the bottom of the external boundary.
The data is obtained by interpolation from the pressure head contours.
NOTE that although we have only used a single line segment to define
this Query, in general, a Query can be an arbitrary polyline, with any
number of segments, added anywhere on or within the external
boundary.
1. First, close the graph of Pressure Head which we created (select the X
in the corner of the view).
2. Click on the Data Tips box on the status bar (at the bottom of the
application window), until the Data Tips Query option is enabled.
3. Now hover the mouse over the contours on the model. As you move
the mouse over the contours, the exact interpolated contour value
and x-y location, is displayed in a popup data tip.
For example, in the above figure, the Data Tip Query is displaying the
negative pressure head (suction) in the unsaturated zone above the water
table.
Note: in the above figure, we have deleted the query line segment.
Now, let’s get back to the slope stability analysis, so that we can run the
analysis using the pore pressures generated by the groundwater analysis.
Model
Notice that the modeling entities which are applicable to the slope
stability analysis, are once again displayed (i.e. Search Grid, Slope
Limits, etc). The modeling entities which are applicable to the
groundwater analysis (e.g. mesh and boundary conditions), are now
hidden.
Compute
The slope stability analysis will be run. Since we have already carried out
the groundwater analysis, the slope stability analysis will automatically
use the pore pressures calculated by the groundwater analysis.
NOTE:
Interpret
Figure 7-10: Slope stability analysis using pore pressures from groundwater analysis.
Notice that TWO legends are displayed – one legend is for the slope
stability (safety factor) results, and the other legend is for the
groundwater contours.
Now we are only viewing the slope stability results in Slide INTERPRET.
Open the file Tutorial 05 Water Pressure Grid.sli. NOTE: you may
need to compute this file, if you have not previously done so. If you see a
message dialog, follow the instructions so that the slope stability analysis
for the Tutorial 5 file is computed.
Now, in the Slide INTEPRET program, tile the two views, of the
Tutorial 05 Water Pressure Grid.sli file, and the gw1.sli file.
Select Zoom All in each view, and hide the legend in each view. You
should see the following.
Finally, we can compare results. As you can see, the Global Minimum
safety factor, for the Bishop analysis method, is nearly the same, for each
file (Tutorial5 = 1.499 and Tutorial 7 = 1.516)
The small difference can be easily accounted for, by the fact that in
Tutorial 5, the pore pressures were derived from a water pressure grid
file (which was originally digitized from a flow net). In Tutorial 7, the
pore pressures were determined from the finite element groundwater
seepage analysis.
NOTE: we should check that the Global Minimum surfaces, in each file,
are actually the SAME surface. We can do this easily as follows:
1. In each view, select the Data Tips Min (or Max) option from the
status bar.
2. Now hover the cursor over the slip center of the Global Minimum
surface, in each view. Compare the center coordinates, and radius
displayed in the popup data tip.
3. You should find that the slip circles are in fact exactly the same
surface.
Now let’s compare the pore pressures along the Global Minimum slip
surface for each file. This way we can directly compare the pore pressures
calculated from the pore pressure grid (Tutorial 5) and the groundwater
analysis (Tutorial 7).
A quick shortcut for graphing data for a slip surface, is to right click on
the slip surface (NOTE: you can click on the surface, or on the radial
lines joining the slip center to the endpoints of the slip surface).
In each view:
1. Right click on the Global Minimum, and select Add Query and Graph
from the popup menu.
2. In the Graph Slice Data dialog, select Pore Pressure from the
Primary Data list, and select the Create Plot button.
3. Now minimize the model views of each file, and select the Tile
Vertically option. You should see the following graphs.
NOTE:
• For the water pressure grid file (Tutorial 5), pore pressures above the
water table are zero.
To better compare the positive pore pressures, calculated below the water
table, do the following:
1. Right click on the pore pressure graph, for the groundwater analysis
file, and select Chart Properties from the popup menu.
You can now see that the (positive) pore pressures calculated for the
Global Minimum slip surface, for the two files, are very nearly the same.
The slight differences in the two graphs are accounted for by the different
methods used to determine the pore pressure distribution within the
slope.
• For the water pressure grid file, pore pressures were interpolated
from the grid values.
ψ tan φb
The files used for the verification examples can be found in the Examples
> Groundwater Verification folder, in your Slide installation folder.