EG/ES3018: Tutorial Sheet: Porous Media Flow Solutions will be available on WebCT in due course, but be sensible in the

way you use these. After studying the lecture material, make a serious attempt to do the tutorial questions without referring to the solutions. Find out the areas with which you have difficulty, discuss your difficulties at tutorials and use the solutions as back-up. Q1 Describe Darcys experiment. State the experimental conditions; list the quantities which need to be measure; explain how the experimental results are analysed to produce Darcys law for porius media flows. Q2 A Darcys apparatus has a 0.4m long, 0.25m diameter cylindrical test section. The cylinder contains two layers made of two different materials: Material 1 and Material 2. The respective thicknesses of the two layers are 0.3m and 0.1m. Each end of the test section is connected to a constant head tank. The following measurements have been made: H1 = 2.0m, H2 = 1.9m, H3 = 1.5m, where H1, H2, H3, are the hydraulic heads at the beginning of Material 1, at the contact between the two materials and at the end of Material 2, respectively. Volumetric measurement has shown that it takes 60s to collect 6cm3 of water flowing out of the apparatus. Sketch the apparatus. Calculate discharge through the apparatus and hydraulic conductivity of each material. (Ans. 0.1 cm3/s, 6.11 10-6 m/s, 5.09 10-7 m/s) Q3 A Darcys apparatus consists of a vertical channel with a rectangular 0.1m0.1m cross-section. The test section contains a 0.2m high sample of a porous material. Conductivity of the porous material is 10-4 m/s. Above the sample the channel is filled with water which is maintained at constant level of H2 = 1.0m above a horizontal datum. Hydraulic conductivity of the porous sample is 10-4 m/s. Two experimens are run: (a) upwards flow with the discharge of 1 cm3/s (b) downwards flow with the same discharge. For each experiment: calculate the hudraulic head in the middle of the sample, HM, and at the lower end of the sample, H1; and sketch the apparatus, showing flow direction, H1, HM, and H2. (Ans. a. HM =1.05m, H1 =1.10m; b. HM =0.95m, H1 =0.90m) Q4 A laboratory facility consists of a rectangular channel (0.2m0.1m cross-section) which connects two constant level tanks. The channel contains 4 samples of porous material. Each sample is 0.25m long and their respective hydraulic conductivities, from left to right, are 10-4 m/s, 2 10-5 m/s, 2 10-4 m/s, 10-5 m/s. The levels in the left and right tank are 2.0m and 1.0m, respectively. Calculate discharge through the facility and hydraulic head at the contact between each two samples. (Ans. 0.48 cm3/s, 1.94m, 1.64m; 1.61m) Q5 Compare the relationship between discharge and hydraulic gradient in confined and unconfined one-dimensional flow through a homogeneous porous material. Q6 A laboratory facility consists of a rectangular channel (with 0.3m high and 0.1mwide crosssection) which connects two constant level tanks. The channel is horizontal, and its base is used as a horizontal datum. The channel contains 2 samples of porous material. The respective lengths and hydraulic conductivities for the two materials, from left to right, are 0.6m, 0.2m; 2 10-4 m/s, 2 10-4 m/s. Two experiments are run: (a) Water level in the left tank 0.5m, discharge 6 cm3/s; (b) Water level in the left tank 0.3m, hydraulic head at the contact between the two materials 0.25m. For each experiment calculate the hydraulic head at the right end of the second material and draw a sketch which shows how hydraulic head changes along the channel. (Ans. a. 0.30m; b. 0.21m)

Q7 A laboratory facility consists of a 0.2m wide, 0.8m long, rectangular channel which connects two constant level tanks. The channel base is horizontal and is used as a datum. At the left end of the channel the upper lid is at 0.3m above the datum, and at the right end it is 0.2m above the datum. This means that the cross-sectional area of the channel varies along its length. The channel is filled with a porous material which has the hydraulic conductivity K=10-4 m/s. Water levels in the left and right tank are 0.5m and 0.3m, respectively. Calculate the discharge through the facility, and the hydraulic head at several locations along the channel. Draw a sketch which shows how hydraulic head changes along the channel. (Ans. 1.23 cm3/s; 0.500m, 0.457m, 0.410m, 0.358m, 0.300m) Q8 Derive the equation for flow towards a well which abstracts water from a homogeneous layer of constant thickness. Q9 A water-bearing layer is homogeneous, with hydraulic conductivity K=10-4 m/s. It has a horizontal base at the level of the datum (0m), and a constant thickness of 15m. A system of wells is planned for the groundwater abstraction. The wells have radius of 0.1m. The undisturbed groundwater level is 25m, and it is required that flow remains confined everywhere. Calculate the maximum discharge that can be abstracted by (a) a single well, (b) 3 wells with the distance of 20m between each two of them. Assume that the radius of influence for each well is 1000m. (Ans. 10.210-3 m3/s, 5.510-3 m3/s) Q10 An excavation pit has a circular shape (in a plan view) with a 30m diameter. The terrain level is 100m, and the level of the excavation base is 90m. The natural groundwater level is 95m. In order to lower groundwater levels, a well is drilled in the centre of the pit, until an impervious base located at the level 75m. The radius of the well is 0.2m. The soil is homogeneous and has hydraulic conductivity of K=10-5 m/s. Calculate the well discharge which maintains dry conditions for the whole excavation pit. Calculate the corresponding water level in the well. (Ans. 1.5710-3 m3/s, 3m)