WELL DESIGN, CONSTRUCTION, & DEVELOPMENT

Terminologies
 Aquifer – is a formation that contains significant amount of water that can be
transmitted at sufficient rates.
 Aquiclude – a saturated formation that contains relatively impermeable material
that does not yield appreciable quantities of water. It may serve as confining
layer for some aquifers.
 Aquitard – saturated but poorly permeable stratum that impedes groundwater
movement. It does not yield water freely to wells but may transport water to or
from adjacent aquifer. It occupies an intermediate position bet. Aquifer and
aquiclude.
Aquifer Classification
 Confined – is bounded above and below by a relatively impermeable layer.
 Unconfined – is s permeable bed overlying a relatively impervious layer. Its upper
boundary is formed by a free water table or phreatic level under atmospheric
pressure.
 Leaky or semi-confined – is overlain & underlain by a relatively impermeable
layer. Lowering the piezometric head will tend to generate a vertical flow of
water from a semi-pervios layer into the pumped aquifer.
 Perched aquifer – when a groundwater is separated by a concaved upward
impermeable layer. This is a special type of water table aquifer with small areal
extent. A well penetrating a perched aquifer may be exhausted during dry months
or when intensive pumping is done.
Aquifer Characteristics
 Specific Retention – Not all groundwater present in the aquifer can be withdrawn
or removed through pumping or drainage. A portion of the stored water is tightly
held by the adhesive forces between the soil particles and the soil molecules.
Specific retention is the measure of the water retained by the soil formation
against gravity. Fine-grained soils generally retain more water than coarse-grained
ones.
 Specific Yield - The volume of water yield per unit volume of the formation is
termed as the specific yield of the aquifer. It gives an estimates of the available
water supply due to an increment of rise in the water table during the period of
recharge, as well as the water can be extracted for each incremental lowering of
the water table.
 Storage Coefficient – the water yield in an unconfined aquifer has a counterpart in
confined aquifers known as storage coefficient. Even with the removal of water,
saturated condition remains in an artesian aquifers. Water withdrawal is reflected
mainly in the change in pjezometric head and the slight change in the aquifer
volume due to aquifer compression from overlying layer.
 Conductivity or Permeability - Permeability or aquifer conductivity refers to the
capacity of a porous medium to allow fluid to flow through a cross-sectional area.
It is a measure of the ease with which an aquifer will transmit water. It is
influenced by both the properties of water (viscosity) and the aquifer materials
(e.g. porosity, particle size distribution, degree of packing and stratification).
  Transmissibility - in confined aquifer, the product of aquifer thickness and
hydraulic conductivity is referred to as transmissibility. It is a measure of
potential discharge rate of well penetrating an aquifer. The magnitude of
transmissibility is, therefore, an indication of the economic value of an aquifer.

Well Drilling Method

 Method of construction depends upon
 The purpose for which wells is being constructed.
 Depth of water table
 Geologic condition
 Equipment available
1. BORED OR AUGERED WELLS
 Cheap and fast method
 Excavation consists of cutting earh materials from the bottom of the hole by the
rotary motion of an auger
 Available in various shapes & sizes
 Cylindrical bucket auger
 Two blade auger
 Helical or spiral auger
 Tubular auger
2. DRIVEN WELLS
 Driving is accomplished by hammering a pipe into the ground.
 Suited in unconsolidated formations with shallow water tables & containing not
too many rocks.
 Usually 3”-4” diameter fro irrigation wells
 Larger diameter is usually installed at depths not exceeding 15 m.
3. JETTED WELLS
 Constructed with the use of high velocity stream of water to excavate the hole and
carry the excavated materials out of the hole.
 Works best in unconsolidated formation since jetting system primarily depends on
the rosive action of water.
 For semi-permeable materials, jetting tube are usually fitted with jetting drill bit.
 Jetted wells are usually from 1.5 to 4” in diameter.
4. CABLE TOOL OR PERCUSSION METHOD
 This method is based on the use of striking force of the drilling bit attached to the
lower end of the cable. The drilling bit is alternately lifted and dropped in the hole
to break the formation.
 Adapted to drilling deep wells ranging from 3 to 24” diameter in consolidated
rock materials.
5. HYDRAULIC ROTARY METHOD
 Fastest method of drilling in unconsolidated formations.
 Accomplish by the rotating bit of various types and cuttings are removed by
continues circulation of a drilling fluid.
 Advantages are faster drilling with no casing needed during drilling.
6. REVERSE ROTARY METHOD
  The drilling rig used is similar to that of hydraulic rotary method except that the
drill pipe has slightly larger diameter & a large capacity pump.
 The drilling fluids moves into the bore hole through annular space around the drill
pipe, picks up the cutting and the mixtuer moves upward inside the drill pipe due
to suction.
 Due to small x-section of the pipe, the rising fluid has larger velocity, which
allows the larger particles to be lifted.
7. TURBO DRILLING METHOD
 This is another modification of H rotary method in which the a vertical axis
turbine is attached to the lower end of the stationary drill stem. A high cap pump
forces the drilling fluid to pass through the drilling bit. This causes the turbine to
rotate together eith the drilling bit.
 The drill stem does not rotate but merely serves to conduct the fluid into the
turbine.
WELL DEVELOPMENT & TESTING
Rationale…
 Every drilling alters the hydraulic characteristics of formation materials in the
vicinity of the borehole.
 This alteration result in the severe reduction of the hydraulic conductivity close to
the well bore.
 Hence, it is essential so that max specific capacity & well efficiency would be
reached.
Facts..
 Usually overlooked by local drillers.
 Well development is not expensive compared to the benefits derived.
 Necessary to achieve a sand-free water at the highest possible specific capacity.
Objectives of Well Development
 Obtain maximum specific capacity of the well.
 Increase the natural porosity & permeability of the previous undisturbed
formation near the well borehole by selectively removing the finer fraction of the
aquifer materials.
 Remove mud cakes & fine cuttings plastered on the face of the borehole.
 Create a highly permeable envelope around the well intake structure thereby
stabilizing the formation so that the well will yield a sand-free water.
 Prevent fine materials or sand from entering the well during pumping.
Factors affecting well development
 Well Completion Method
– Natural
– Filter packing
 Open Areas & Slot Configuration
 Slot Size
 Type of Drilling Fluid
 Filter Pack Thickness
 Type of Formation
WELL DEVELOPMENT
  After the production pipe has been in place, the well should be developed to
increase the porosity and permeability of the water-bearing formation thus
increasing the yield of the well.
 Has two (2) stages
1st Stage: Use of Surging Stem
 After pipe installation, the surging system of the drilling set may be used to
agitate the formation materials.
 This is done by operating the surging pump gradually up to its maximum capacity
& moving the surging stem in an up & down motion such that the water jet at the
end of the surging stem will cause turbulence on the pipe length with slot & at the
bottom of the pipe.
2nd Stage: Pumping
 Pumping Out
– Operate pump ¼ of its design discharge until thw water clears up.
– Suddenly stop pumping w/o covering the discharge pipe. The back flow
of water down the pipe will agitate fine materials.
– Wait for at least 10 min to allow agitated materials to come closer to the
pipe vicinity.
– Repeat the process of starting & shutting off the engine until the discharge
no longer contain significant amount of sand.
– Increased discharge by 25% & repeat starting & shutting down process

TUBE WELL CONSTUCTION

Basic Steps and Procedures
 Pilot drilling and logging
 Tube well/pipe design
 Pipe installation
 Well development
 Pumping units selection and installation
 Pilot drilling and logging
 Construct a pilot bore hole using a drill bit diameter as small as possible
(preferably 2” Ф). Obtain samples of materials for every drill stem
penetration or every 3’ and/or at every change in formation. Bore hole
depth for logging should extend until a good confined aquifer is penetrated
but up to maximum depth of 100 ft (30 m).
Procedures
 Determine the approximate proportions of sand, gravel, silt and clay.
 Record observation
 Classify the aquifer (e.g. confined)
 Good confined aquifer is one dominated by sand & gravel with thickness
of at least 10 ft. & confined by a hard clay of sufficient thickness
 Tube well/Pipe design – includes specs of pipe material, pipe length, and pipe
perforation.
 Material – schedule 40, GI pipe
 Length – depth of aquifer + aquifer thickness + pipe height above the
ground.
 Perforation – slot shd start 1’above the pipe end, length of pipe to be
slotted shd be about 60-80% of aquifer thickness, slots shd be rectangular
& vertical, total slot openings shd be at least 15% of the surface area.