A Thin-Layer Element for Seepage Analysis

Abstract

The presence of a very thin layer of material whose permeability differs significantly from that of the surrounding soil can impose the adoption of a very dense finite element mesh, because of the small element dimensions required for the modeling of the thin layer. This paper presents the formulation of an isoparametric thin-layer element for 2D analysis which can be employed with advantage for the modeling of such zones, allowing for greater economy in mesh development and analysis time, while at the same time providing accurate results. The proposed thin-layer element is derived from a quadrilateral element by making one dimension converge to zero and it can handle flow in both the normal and tangential directions.