534 BOULTON ON THE FLOW PATTERN NEAR A GRAVITY WELL Paper No. 5810 “The Flow Pattern near a Gravity Well in a Uniform Water-Bearing Medium} by Norman Savace Bourroy, M.Sc., M.I.C.E. SYNOPSIS ‘The form of the free surface and other characteristics of the flow system around a “ gravity-flow well” in a uniform water-boaring medium have been determined by relaxation methods. The results are expressed graphically in a simple form suitable for practical use. They confirm and extend the results of other investigators who have used the electro-hydraulic analogy method and sand-models, The Dupuit- Forchheimer formula is shown to give the discharge correctly to within one per cent. The location of the free surface and surface of seepage is determined for wells of small diameter ranging up to a large-diameter shaft. The velocity distribution of water entering the well is also considered. Obgercations on e sand-model are given for comparison with the calculated values. ‘The effect, on the discharge and on the position of the free surface, of lining the upper half of the well is found for one well in the sand-model. Some details of the relaxation process used, and of the model experiments, are given in Appendices I and II. Intropuction In designing a gravity well for drainage or water-supply purposes, a knowledge of the relationship between the yield, the dimensions of the flow system, and the permeability of the medium is of primary importance, ‘The form of the free surface near the well, and the extent of the seepage- surface in the well, are also required for a proper understanding of the flow system, since this information may be useful, for example, when the possible pollution of the well is being considered, or when determining permeability from a pumping test. The main purpose of this investigation is the accurate location of the free surface and seepage surface. Another characteristic of the flow pattern which is of some interest is the horizontal velocity of the water entering the well. The magnitude of this velocity at any point on the well surface has therefore been determined. This factor is connected with stability of the walls of the well and the degree to which fine sand particles may be washed into the well. ‘Among the simplifying assumptions made in the analysis, the assump- tion that the permeability is the same in all directions and at all points of + Correspondence on this Paper may be accepted until the Ist April, 1952, and will be published in a Supplement to this Journal (See footnote t, p. 503). Contribu- tions should be limited to about 600 words.—Szo. 1.0.B, Journal of the Institution of Civil Engineers 1951.36:534-550,IN A UNIFORM WATER-BEARING MEDIUM 535, the water-bearing medium is most likely to be at variance with the con- ditions in an actual case, When applying the results which follow, it should always be remembered, therefore, that the various flow charac- teristics, such as those mentioned above, will be modified if the permea- bility of the medium near the well is variable, If, however, the horizontal and vertical permeabilities have different, but constant values, the flow system can be reduced by a simple transformation } to the case of uniform permeability considered in this Paper. Notation a denotes mesh length in square relaxation net. b = Q/2mkhe. F, denotes “‘ residual force.” {logarithmic function defined by equation (17). height of free surface above impermeable stratum during pumping. he 5, value of h when 7 = r¢. hy 4,’ value of h when he he 5, Value of A when r= ry. hw 5, height of water-level in well above impermeable stratum during pumping. k ,, permeability constant of water-bearing medium. Pp 3 pressure intensity in pore-water (atmospheric pressure being taken as zero). Q ., tate of discharge (volume per unit time) during pumping. r —,, horizontal distance from well-axis to any point. tx external radius of assumed flow-system. T» >, Tadius of well. ry, external radius for theoretical and experimental examples. 8 4, distance ‘along free-surface curve from well. z height of any point above impermeable stratum. « ,, _ inclination of free-surface curve to horizontal. yo» density of water. 4 ,, “difference correction.” ¢ 45 pressure-head plus potential head at any point of flow system. $ = pigye + % C= (he — h)/b. Os = (h. — he) /b. STATEMENT oF PROBLEM AND ASSUMPTIONS Fig. 1 illustrates the flow system considered and also shows the meaning of some of the symbols used. 1 ‘The references are given on p. 550. 36 Journal of the Institution of Civil Engineers 1951.36:534-550,536 BOULTON ON THE FLOW PATTERN NEAR A GRAVITY WELL ‘The conditions assumed in the problem investigated are : (1) The water-bearing medium is hydrologically isotropic; it is bounded above by the ground surface and below by a horizontal imper- meable bed. The presence of fissures is thus excluded. (2) The well penetrates the permeable medium to its base and, except where otherwise stated, is unlined. (3) The flow in the permeable medium obeys Darcy's Law. (4) The well is pumped at a constant rate until equilibrium conditions exist (at least in the vicinity of the well). (5) The free surface near the well is assumed to be a streamline. This simplification precludes any downward replenishment from the rainfall close to the well, the effect of which is likely to be small in practice. Previous INVESTIGATIONS Previous investigations “8 have shown that the discharge Q of such a well is given with sufficient accuracy for all practical purposes by the Dupuit-Forchheimer formula Tig? — Ieu® eam loge Tel? It has also been shown that the free surface near the well is not correctly represented by the Dupuit-Forchheimer theory, and that the free surface joins the well surface at B (Fig. 2), some distance above the water-level A in the well. Over the length AB, scopage occurs into the well above the water-level. The existence of this seepage surface has been recognized for some time, though it is still sometimes ignored in the literature of the subject. ‘An exact theoretical solution to the flow system with the free surface cannot be obtained by known methods. Free-surface profiles, for several different dimensional ratios of the flow system have been recently obtained, using the electro-hydraulic analogy method, and also from observations on a sand-model. Previously, sand-model observations made by Muskat4 had clearly demonstrated the existence of the seepage surface and determined a number of free-surface profiles, although he did not succeed in relating the form of the free surface to the other variables defining the flow system. From his theory of “ submerged ” and “non-submerged” flow, Jaeger ® obtained an approximate equation from which the free-surface profile can be obtained by step-integration, Cambefort © has also suggested a simple approximate equation (based on the Dupuit equation) to locate the free curface. These theories are discussed later in this Paper. cere aticeseriedt() Journal of the Institution of Civil Engineers 1951.36:534-550,IN A UNIFORM WATER-BEARING MEDIUM 537 Rapiat Frow Nets Derermivep py THe Reaxation MerHop Thenumerical solutions given in this Paper were obtained by Southwell’s method of “Relaxation.” Shaw and Southwell? solved, by relaxation, the analogous but simpler two-dimensional problem of seepage through a wall having vertical sides, ‘A number of observations on a sand-model are shown to be consistent with the relaxation solutions. Since, however, the experimental results show some scatter, the relaxation technique is considered superior to the sand-model in providing an accurate solution to the problem considered. The assumed dimensions for the four examples solved by relaxation are given in Table 1, the last column giving the values of hy determined by the solutions, Since the flow pattern depends only upon the relative values of the dimensions involved, the values assumed are numbers large enough to avoid the use of decimals in the relaxation process. In Examples 1 to 3 the ratio r/R, was chosen so as to cover a range of usual values of this ratio for pumped wells in the United Kingdom. The value of 7y/h; in Example 4 would apply to the case of drainage into a large-diameter shaft. Figs 1 to 4 show some of the results obtained from the solutions to these examples, In each diagram the position of the free surface, as determined by relaxation, is shown to scale. The streamlines and con- tours of ¢ shown in Figs 2 and 4 were computed from the ¢-values (not shown owing to space limitations). For Example 3 (Fig. 3), the values of ¢ are shown at each node of the relaxation net. In the actual computation of this example, a net, one-half the size of that shown, was used near the well and near the free surface. Near the junction of the free surface and the well, a net one-eighth the size of that shown was used. The Discharge of the Well ‘The discharge obtained for each of the relaxation solutions agrees with the corresponding value calculated from the Dupuit equation (1) to Journal of the Institution of Civil Engineers 1951.36:534-550,