CANAL LINING

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 Canal Lining
• Conservation of water supplies is increasingly important as
the demand continues to increase and new sources of supply
are becoming increasingly scarce.

• The principle of conservation requires that full use of available

water be made by minimizing the water loss due to seepage
during conveyance in the canals.

• Canal lining offers the solution because it helps conserve the

costly impounded water otherwise lost during conveyance
due to high seepage losses in unlined section.

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 Canal Lining
• Lining means protection of canal prism with impervious
material. Canal lining may be rigid, semi rigid or flexible.

Objectives of Canal Lining

• To minimize the losses due to seepage
• To protect the area prone to water logging due to rise in water
table
• To increase the discharge capacity of the canal
• Improvement of command and larger working head for power
generation

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 Canal Lining

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Canal lined with concrete
 Canal Lining

Canal lined with PCC

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Canal lined with PVC liner
 Canal Lining

Brick lining

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Brick lining
 Advantages
• Reduction in seepage losses

• Low maintenance cost

• Minimizes the possibility of breaching of canals

• Prevents weed growth

• Improved hydraulic efficiency of canals

• Reduces cross sectional dimensions of canal

• Improvement in command 7
 Disadvantages
• Higher initial investment

• Repair is costly

• Shifting of outlet is costly because it involve dismantling

and relaying of lining.

• Longer construction period

• Sophisticated construction equipment and labor is

needed.
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 Types of Canal Lining
• Concrete:
– Reinforced Concrete Lining
– Plain Cement Concrete Lining
– Prefabricated Cement Concrete Lining
– Shotcrete Lining
• Brick or Tile Lining
• Stone Lining
• Asphalt Concrete Lining
• Soil Cement Lining
• Compacted / Stabilized Earth Lining
• Membrane Lining
– Exposed Membrane
– Burried Membrane

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 Seepage through various surfaces
(Ref: Garg, 1999)
S No Type of lining Initial Stabilized Seepage
seepage (Cumecs per MSM)
(Cumecs per after lining or
MSM) stabilizing
1 Unlined Channel 7.4 3.4

2 30x15x5 cm tiles using 1:3 0.17 0.009

c/s mortar
3 PCC [Link], 10 cm, 0.13 0.007

4 10cm Lime concrete 0.4 0.13

1(cement):5(lime):12(Surk
hi): 24(Brick ballast)
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 Selection of Suitable Type of Lining
1. Imperviousness:
To save seepage losses and as an important anti water-logging
measure, it should ensure maximum degree of water-tightness.
Cement and concrete lining is more impervious than tile lining.
2. Hydraulic Efficiency:
The carrying capacity of a channel varies inversely with the value of
coefficient of roughness of the lined surface. Concrete and tile linings
are hydraulically most efficient. The coefficient of roughness increases
with the deterioration of lined surface with the passage of time.
3. Durability:
The lining should be strong and durable. It should be resistant to
wearing, weathering, chemical action of salts present in soil, thermal
and moisture changes.
4. Structural Stability:
The lining should be reasonably stable to withstand the differential
subsoil water pressure due to subsoil water and backfill getting
saturated through seepage or due to sudden drawdown.

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 Selection of Suitable Type of Lining
5. Economy:
The lining is justified in case the benefits occurring from it offset the
first cost and subsequent maintenance and give a reasonable return
on the capital investment. The lining should be economical in initial
cost, repair and maintenance.
6. High Velocity:
Lining is intended to withstand maximum velocity of flow so that the
smaller section is possible.
7. Life:
The life of lining should be as intended. Cement concrete lining has the
longest proved life (over 60 years) with least maintenance.
8. Weed Growth:
The lining should be in-penetrable to root of plants, entirely
eliminating the possibility of weed growth to keep the flow smooth,
clear and perfect.
9. Availability of construction material:
The economical lining is the one which makes use of the available
construction material at or near the site.
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 Selection of Suitable Type of Lining
10. Labor Strength Available:
The optimum utilization of the kind and strength of labor
available for work should be possible with the type of lining
selected.
11. Operation and maintenance charges:
The lining selected should have least operation and maintenance
(O&M) charges. Tile bricks and Precast concrete lining has easy
reparability as compared to insitu concrete lining.
12. Sub-grade:
Adaptability of the type of lining selected to the given sub-grade
is of paramount importance.
13. Resistance to abrasion:
Sediment carried by canal water damages the lining by abrasion.
Concrete and boulder lining are most resistant to abrasion
compared to other linings.

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 Types of Canal Lining
• Reinforced Cement Concrete (RCC) lining:
– Most concrete linings installed in older irrigation channels
were reinforced. During recent years reinforcement has
been omitted wherever possible to reduce construction
cost.

– Unreinforced concrete linings are to some extent

susceptible to damage by hydrostatic or other pressure
under the lining than reinforced concrete linings.

– Where unexpected hydrostatic pressures are encountered

under the lining, unreinforced concrete ruptures more
readily than the reinforced concrete.

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 Types of Canal Lining
• Reinforced Cement Concrete (RCC) lining:
– The reinforced concrete lining can be justified under
unusual conditions, such as high back pressures, high flow
velocities in the canal, unstable sub-grade and in reaches
where failure would endanger life and property outside
the canal.
– The main function of reinforcement is to minimize the
tendency and severity of cracking and prevent separation
of several parts of the concrete slab.
– Power channel of GBHP is RCC lined canal

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 17
SECTION A-A
UNDER DRAINAGE COMPACTION 18
CHANNEL LINING OPERATION 19
POWER CHANNEL 20
 Types of Canal Lining
• Plain Cement Concrete Lining:
– Concrete linings probably constitute the best type where
benefits justify their high cost.

– Properly designed, constructed and maintained concrete

linings should have an average serviceable life of over 40
years. Some linings still in good condition are 50 to 60
years old.

– Concrete linings are suitable for large and small canals, and
for both high and low velocities. They fulfill practically
every purpose of lining.

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 Types of Canal Lining
• Plain Cement Concrete Lining:
– They are usually subject to some cracking, but cracks
which permit appreciable leakage can be sealed with
asphalted compounds. Costly maintenance is seldom
necessary.

– These are constructed by well-designed premixed cement

concrete mixture of selected aggregates, Portland cement
and water. The concrete mix should have enough plasticity
for thorough consolidation. At the same time, it can be laid
manually or by mechanical means. Hand placing is possible
only in small canals and distributaries.

– Concrete linings usually consist of 2 to 6 inches thick slabs

placed on well prepared canal sub-grade.

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 Types of Canal Lining
• Prefabricated Cement Concrete Lining:
– Canal lining with prefabricated cement concrete slabs is
more suitable at places where cheap labour, aggregate and
transport are easily available.

– This type of lining is preferred over the insitu concrete

lining because of better control over mixing, moulding and
curing which can be achieved in a controlled CASTING
YARD.

– Prefabricated slabs are easy to place on steep side-slopes

as compared to laying of cement concrete at site in similar
conditions.
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 Types of Canal Lining
• Prefabricated Cement Concrete Lining:
– This takes lesser time for construction than that of in-situ
concrete.

– Nominal reinforcement is required to avoid breakage

during haulage.

– Operation and maintenance cost is low with an average life

of 50 years.

– A combination of in-situ concrete in the bed and precast

slab on the sides can also be adopted with advantage.

– Thickness of precast slabs may vary from 2 to 2.75 inches

or more.
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 Types of Canal Lining
• Shotcrete Lining:
– Shotcrete is a term adopted for applying cement-sand
mortar under PNEUMATIC (air) pressure.

– If shotcrete is used in thin layers of 1/4" to 1/2" on soil, it

often gives trouble. A thick coat of 1.0 to 1.5 inches, is
durable but it is more costly than a cement concrete layer
of equal thickness.

– Use of shotcrete on rigid, porous or deteriorated surfaces

is very useful.
– Geocomposite liner with a 3-inch shotcrete cover is used
for lining option in DRYDEN CANAL, in Wenatchee Valley
Washington.
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DRYDEN CANAL Shotcrete LINING

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 DRYDEN CANAL LINING PHASE II
after shotcrete

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[Link]
 Types of Canal Lining
• Brick or Tile Lining:
– This type is commonly used if good quality tiles or bricks
and cheap labour are available.
– The tiles/bricks should be manufactured from the soil
having a clay content 10 to 20 percent and salt content of
not more than 0.3 percent.

– Clay tiles are very porous and are not much effective in
preventing seepage losses.

– Brick/tiles linings have been tried on various canals in the

sub-continent. The main advantages of brick/tile lining are
that the bricks/tiles can be manufactured in the vicinity of
the work.
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 Brick or Tile Lining
– No contraction and expansion joints
are required and these are easy to
lay and maintain.
– The main drawback in the
manufacture of bricks/tiles is the
problem of non-availability of
suitable soil as most of the soils in
Pakistan contain salt substantially
higher than the prescribed limit.
– Mohajir Branch (of Thal Canal),
Bambanwala Ravi Baidian Depalpur
(BRBD) Canal, Lahore Branch etc are
Provincial minister inspecting Lahore Branch
brick lined Canal during annual Disilting (Bhal Safai) project
(23 Jan 2013)

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 Types of Canal Lining
• Asphalt Concrete Lining:
– Asphalt mixed with sand and gravel, is used as a lining
mixture in the same way as concrete made from portland
cement.

– Asphalt concrete linings when properly constructed are

comparable to portland cement concrete linings in many
aspects.

– The thickness of lining varies from 2 to 4 inches. The

serviceable life varies from 15 to 20 years

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 Types of Canal Lining
• Asphalt Concrete Lining
– The advantages as compared with portland cement
concrete linings include
• the possibility of placement even during freezing temperatures.
• It has better adjustment to sub-grade changes and possibility to
use slightly poorer quality of aggregate.
• Initial cost of this type of lining is very low on account of
considerable price difference between asphalt and portland
cement.

– Seepage losses can be reduced to as low as in the case of

portland cement concrete lining but these will increase
considerably after the weed growth over the time with
cracks development.

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 Types of Canal Lining
• Stone Lining:
– Lining of stone masonry can be applied in areas where
suitable materials (stones) are available.

– The construction of this type is relatively slow and the cost

of labour is the major expense.

– Seepage losses may be very high if the stones are not laid
in mortar.

– This type is more suitable for main canals under scouring

action or in locations where there is movement of gravel
along the bed.

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 Types of Canal Lining
• Soil-Cement Lining:
– Soil-cement linings are constructed with mixture of sandy soil,
portland cement and water. This mixture hardens to a concrete
like material.

– The life of this type of lining varies from 10 to 12 years but if

properly constructed and maintained then it may serve up to 20
years or so.
– The thickness of lining varies from 4 to 6 inch.

– Initial cost of soil cement lining is low as compared to others.

– It is suitable for the areas where good sandy soils are available
within or in the vicinity of the project area.

– The seepage losses can be reduced to that of the cement

concrete lining, if proper mixing and compaction is done. It
however affords less structural stability.
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 Types of Canal Lining
• Compacted / Stabilized Earth Lining:
– Earth lining is composed of compacted earth, mixed with
some chemicals which improves the stabilization of the
earth. This is comparatively the cheapest type.

– Thickness of lining varies from 12 to 24 inches for bed and

even more (3-8 ft) for slopes.

– Seepage losses are more and the structural strength is also

poor. It is resistive to weed growth.

– Deep cracks develop on the surface, if the canal is dry. It

requires top-most quality of compaction so that moisture
content may not increase or decrease.
– The average life of this type of lining is about 10 years.
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 Types of Canal Lining
• Exposed Membrane Lining:

– Exposed membranes include thin membranes of asphalt,

plastics and synthetic rubber. They possess low permeability,
but have no structural strength.

– Seepage losses mainly depend upon weed growth and other

mechanical damages as well as weathering.

– The life of this type is only a few irrigation seasons.

– Due to shorter life the economic use of exposed membrane

lining is limited to special cases, such as temporary
emergency linings, short sections less vulnerable to damages
etc.
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 Types of Canal Lining
• Buried Membrane Lining:
– A buried membrane canal lining consists of a relatively thin and
impervious water barrier covered by a protective layer which
forms the water-carrying prism.

– The asphalt spray, plastic film, bentonite and prefabricated asphalt

are used as construction material for membranes.

– Since the protective cover does not get properly attached with the
plastic sheet, sloughing and slipping of earth on the sides usually
take place. The minimum side slope recommended is 2:1.

– The life of the lining depends largely on erosion resistance of cover

material.

– Skilled personnels are required. It can be transported easily along

the canal. Suitability of excavated soil as cover material is
important for economic reasons. 36
 Seepage Losses
• For Channels in Punjab (Eastern side):
– Qs=5 Q0.0625
– Qa=0.0133 L Q 0.5625
where L is length in thousands feet, Qs is seepage
loss (cusec) per Million Square Feet (MSF) of
wetted parameter, Qa is loss in cusecs, and Q is
canal discharge in cusecs

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 CRBC Study
(Siddiqu et al. 1990-92)

• Main Characteristics of CRBC

– Earthen Channel: RD 0 to RD 120+000
– Concrete Lined Channel: RD 120 to RD 260
– Water table varies between 3-10 ft along the channel
– Mainly Fine textured soils in the project (22% is coarse)
• For Seepage Measurement Inflow-Outflow method was used
• Measured Losses cusecs/MSF
– Unlined Channel:
• Weighted Average, Max., Min = 4.381, 11.01, 0.8
– Lined Channel
• Weighted Average, Max., Min = 2.97, 6.32, 1.281

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 Other Studies
• Ref: Garg SK (1999)
– Loss = 0.005 (B+D)2/3 (Used in UP India)
Loss in cumecs per km length
B is width and D is depth of channel in meter
– Loss = 1.9 Q 1/6 (Used in Indian Punjab)
Loss in cumecs per million sq. meter of wetted
parameter,
Q is flow in cumecs

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 Thank you

Ref: [Link]

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 Construction Joints & Sealants
• Both transverse and longitudinal contraction joints
are recommended in channels having a lined
perimeter of 9m or more, particularly those that are
unreinforced.
• Even smaller channels may require two-way crack
control if the sub-base material warrants it.
• Transverse joints are normally spaced every 3-4.5m
depending on the material, slab thickness and
reinforcement (USBR, 1988).

Ref: [Link]
Construction Joints & Sealents

Contraction joint-forming waterstops

Transverse contraction joints are provided in channel

linings by inserting polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic
contraction joint-forming waterstop. This consists of a
plane-weakening vertical member added to a miniature
waterstop, which is normally referred to as a PVC strip
(as shown in the figure below). Extruded from PVC and
inserted into the concrete during lining placement, this
strip controls cracking effectively.
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 Polysulphide Sealants
• Polysulphide Sealant: It can
accommodate and withstand
repeated cycles of expansion
contraction over a wide range of
temperatures on various types of
substrates commonly used in
building and construction works.

Ref: [Link]
polymers/[Link]

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