Professional Documents
Culture Documents
93
4. Groundwater Flow –cont’d
In its natural state, groundwater is always moving and flows from a
point of higher groundwater head to a lower head
……..(a)
where v is called the specific velocity or Darcy velocity
– the Darcy velocity is not the true velocity of fluid flow through the
medium since the cross-sectional area of the porous medium
where water actually moves is smaller than that of the aquifer
95
4. Groundwater Flow –cont’d
– hence, the average real or pore velocity representing the rate at
which groundwater actually moves is: vp = Q/(ne.A) = v/ne
[1] and [2] are fundamental 1-D equations for steady flow in
confined aquifers 101
4.2 Steady Flow in Confined Aquifer – cont’d
When suitable boundary conditions are introduced, many problems
in this case can be solved using the equations [1] and [2]
- For example if there are two observation wells in a confined
aquifer where the hydraulic head can be measured, then the
quantity of flow per unit width (q) is:
dh
q Kb , Integrating q Kb
h1 h2
..................[a]
dx L
where b is aquifer thickness; K is hydraulic conductivity; L is distance
between two wells; h1 and h2 are heads in the well
- Also, at any point (or distance) x between h1 and h2 (i.e., 0 and L),
the head (h) is:
q
h h1 x.......... ...[ b ]
Kb
102
• Sample Question 9
A confined aquifer has a thickness of 33 km and 7 km wide. Two
observation wells are located 1.2 km apart in the direction of flow.
The head in well 1 is 97.5 m and well 2 is 89.0 m.
a) What is the total daily flow through the aquifer? (Hydraulic
conductivity of the aquifer is 1.2 m/day)
b) What is the elevation of the potentiometric surface at a point
located 0.3 km from well 1 and 0.9 km from well 2?
c) Estimate the time taken for a water molecule to move from one
well to the other assuming effective porosity 0.3.
• Try Question
If the distance and observed potentiometric surface between two
adjacent wells are 1000 m and 3 m, respectively. Find an estimate
of the time it takes for a molecule of water to move from one well
to the other. Assume steady 1-directional flow in a homogenous
silty sand confined aquifer with hydraulic conductivity of 3.5 m/day
and effective porosity of 0.35.
103
4.3 Steady Flow in Unconfined Aquifer
In unconfined aquifers, the water table is the upper boundary of the aquifer and
the gradient of water table is not constant; hence flow is complicated
- [3] and [4] are fundamental differential equations for solving problems in
unconfined aquifers except where Dupuit’s assumptions are not valid
104
4.3 Steady Flow in Unconfined Aquifer
The head (h) can be solved for any point x from h1 (i.e., substitute L
with x and h with h2)
105
• Sample Question 10
A stratum of clean sand and gravel between two channels has K of
0.1 m/s and is supplied with water from a ditch of 6.5 m deep that
penetrates to the bottom of the stratum. If the water surface in the
second channel is 4 m above the bottom of the stratum and its
distance to the ditch is 150 m (which is also the thickness of the
stratum), estimate the unit flow rate into the gallery.
b) What is the elevation of the water table at a point located 100 m
from the ditch?
• Try Question
An unconfined aquifer in a stratum of clean sand and gravel has a
hydraulic conductivity 0.01 cm/s. From two observation wells 200 m
apart, the observed water table elevations are 11 and 7 m measured
from the bottom of the stratum.
a) If the width of the aquifer is 1km, determine the total flow
through the aquifer
b) If another observation well is situated 150 m from the first well,
estimate the water level in the well and the time taken for water
molecule to reach this well (assume effective porosity is 0.27).
106
4.4 Recharge to Unconfined Aquifer
Consider an aquifer being recharged by rainfall on the ground
surface at a net infiltration rate of w
Here: dq = w . dx
net infiltration w
q
q + dq
dx
If
the; hence,
107
4.4 Recharge to Unconfined Aquifer – cont’d
(h12 h22 ) x w
h h 1
2
( L x) x ................[6]
L K
where w is recharge rate and all symbols have their usual meanings
108
4.4 Recharge to Unconfined Aquifer – cont’d
• If there is no infiltration (or recharge), w = 0 and then [6] becomes:
( h12 h22 ) x
h h
1
2
.......... .......... .......... .....[ 7 ]
L
• The discharge per unit width at any section x distance from the
origin is given by: K ( h12 h22 ) L
qx w( x )......... .......... .......[ 8 ]
2L 2
Try Question
Rainfall of 2.50m per annum falls on a strip of land 1km wide lying
between two parallel canals, one of which (canal A) is 3m higher
than the other (canal B). The infiltration rate is 80% of the rainfall
and there is no runoff. The aquifer that contains the canals is 10m
deep below the level of canal B and both canals fully penetrate it.
It is underlain by a horizontal impermeable stratum. Compute the
discharge per m length into both canals, assuming their
boundaries are vertical, and the aquifer coefficient of permeability
is 10m/day.
110
4.5 Steady Radial Flow to a Well in Confined Aquifer
When a well is pumped, water is removed from the aquifer
surrounding the well, and the water table or piezometric surface is
lowered
The drawdown at any given point is the distance by which the water
level is lowered and the cone of depression shows (in 3-D) the
variation of drawdown with distance from the well
The outer limit of the cone of depression (i.e., zero drawdown)
defines the area of influence of the pumping well
111
4.5 Steady Radial Flow to a Well in Confined Aquifer
113
4.6 Steady Radial Flow to a Well in Unconfined Aquifer
In an unconfined aquifer, if Dupuit’s assumptions hold and the well
is pumped at constant rate until equilibrium is reached, then the
relation between discharge and drawdown at distance (r) is:
114
Sample Question 12
A well fully penetrates a 25 m thick confined aquifer. After a long period of
pumping at a constant rate of 0.05 m3/s, the drawdowns at distances of 50
and 150 m from the well were observed to be 3 and 1.2 m, respectively.
Determine the hydraulic conductivity and transmissivity of the aquifer.
[Ans: K = 16.8 m/day; T = 420 m2/day]
Try Questions
1. A well of diameter 1m penetrate vertically through a confined aquifer,
which is 30 m thick. When the well is pumped at 113 m3/hr, the drawdown
in a well 15 m away is 1.8 m; in another well 50 m away, it is 0.5 m.
Compute (a) the transmissivity of the aquifer, (b) the approximate head and
drawdown in the pumped well for steady-state conditions, and (c)the radius
of influence of the pumping well. Take the initial piezometric level as 40 m
above datum. [Ans: T= 400 m2/day; hw = 34.5 m; sw = 5.5 m; ro = 79 m]
C. V. Theis, by using the boundary conditions h=ho for t=0 and h→ho as
r→∞ for t≥0 , solved eqn. [18] to be:
116
The infinite series in eqn. [20] is called well function W(u), hence:
117
4.8 Theis Recovery Method
When the pump is stopped at the end of pumping test, the water
levels in both pumping and observation wells begin to rise; this is
known as recovery of groundwater levels
where t is time when pump was started and t’ is the recovery time
118
4.8 Theis Recovery Method –cont’d
It implies that a plot of the residual drawdown (s’) against the log of
t/t’ forms a straight line with a slope equal to 2.303Q/4πT
- Therefore, the change in residual drawdown per log cycle of t/t’ is:
120
4.9 Cooper and Jacob Method
Cooper and Jacob observed that for small values of r and large
values of t, u is small; therefore the higher powers of the infinite
series become negligible
121
- From such a graph, times t1 and t2 will have drawdowns s1 and s2
respectively. If t2>t1 and s2> s1, then from eqn. [23]:
- Using eqns. [24] and [26], the T and S of an aquifer can be determined
from time-drawdown data from an observed well
123
Community Name NTENSERE District: KINTAMPO SOUTH
Estimated Yield 50 Date started/ending 3/9/2015
Borehole Ref. No. 47-AM-BH01 Datum Ht aGL (m) 0.61
uPVC Diameter (mm)256 Tested By:
Static WL (m) 11.2 Pump Setting (m) 34
Recovery Rate (%)96 Depth (m) 40
Pump Capacity HP. 2 ADP AYIMA MANSIE
Timed water Water
since level Time since Time since Level
pumping below pumping pumping Time below
began, t Discharge datum began, t stopped t' Ratio Datum
Time ( min) (l/min) (m) s (m) Time (min) (min) t/t' (m) s' (m)
13:40 0 52 11.07 -0.13 19:40 360 29.87 18.67
13:41 1 13.40 2.20 361 1 361.0 27.16 15.96
13:42 2 14.28 3.08 362 2 181.0 25.45 14.25
13:43 3 14.77 3.57 363 3 121.0 23.47 12.27
13:44 4 15.10 3.90 364 4 91.0 20.21 9.01
5 15.38 4.18 365 5 73.0 19.80 8.60
6 15.59 4.39 366 6 61.0 18.30 7.10
7 15.94 4.74 367 7 52.4 17.15 5.95
8 16.24 5.04 368 8 46.0 16.26 5.06
9 16.48 5.28 369 9 41.0 15.49 4.29
13:50 10 16.72 5.52 370 10 37.0 14.86 3.66
15 17.72 6.52 375 15 25.0 14.32 3.12
20 18.38 7.18 380 20 19.0 13.90 2.70
25 52 19.04 7.84 385 25 15.4 13.58 2.38
30 19.68 8.48 390 30 13.0 12.59 1.39
35 20.14 8.94 395 35 11.3 12.17 0.97
40 20.67 9.47 400 40 10.0 11.94 0.74
45 20.82 9.62 405 45 9.0 11.82 0.62
50 21.18 9.98 410 50 8.2 11.73 0.53
55 21.58 10.38 415 55 7.5 11.67 0.47
14:40 60 22.00 10.80 20:40 420 60 7.0 11.64 0.44
70 22.75 11.55 435 75 5.8 11.61 0.41
80 52 23.22 12.02 450 90 5.0 11.59 0.39
90 23.86 12.66 465 105 4.4 11.57 0.37
100 24.01 12.81 480 120
110 24.42 13.22 495 135
15:40 120 24.86 13.66 510 150
140 25.78 14.58 525 165
160 25.77 14.57 540 180
16:40 180 26.31 15.11
210 27.07 15.87
17:40 240 27.81 16.61
270 28.51 17.31
18:40 300 29.10 17.90
330 29.49 18.29
124
360 29.87 18.67
125
126
127