Seepage streams out of canals and ditches overlying shallow water tables

When there is seepage from a canal or ditch overlying a shallow water table, water-logging of the soil at distant points is a distinct possibility. Thus, for given flowfield parameters it is desirous to be able to predict the limit of the drainage capacity which can be handled without producing this condition of water-logging at distant points. A simple numerical scheme is presented for the solution of such problems. This numerical scheme based upon the Baiocchi method and transformation gives a quick, simple, and accurate means of obtaining the discharge and the free-surface location knowing the physical parameters of the particular canal or ditch problem. Thus, the data necessary to investigate the water-logging phenomenon for a particular flow situation can readily be obtained from the application of this numerical approach. The numerical results obtained for specific applications are compared with other published results to similar problems. Also, a discussion is presented concerning the numerical results and the performance of the numerical scheme.