Engineering Hydrology (CVNG 2011)

Kailas Banerjee, PhD

Lecturer in Geology (Room No. 134)
Department of Civil and
Environmental Engineering, UWI

Call me: 312-3026

Email: kailas.banerjee@sta.uwi.edu

CVNG 1001 – Mechanics of Fluids 1

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Uses of Engineering Hydrology

Engineering Hydrology Helps in the following ways:

o Hydrology is used to find out maximum probable flood at proposed sites e.g.
Dams.
o The variation of water production from catchments can be calculated and
described by hydrology.
o Engineering hydrology enables us to find out the relationship between a
catchment’s surface water and groundwater resources.
o The expected flood flows over a spillway, at a highway Culvert, or in an urban
storm drainage system can be known by this very subject.
o It helps us to know the required reservoir capacity to assure adequate water
for irrigation or municipal water supply in droughts condition.
o It tells us what hydrologic hardware (e.g. rain gauges, stream gauges etc) and
software (computer models) are needed for real-time flood forecasting
 Sales

Barbados (90%) Bahamas (~ 90%)

Jamaica (60%) Trinidad and Tobago (40%)

 Lecture 1
Water table, Types of aquifers, Porosity and
Permeability, Fluid Motion, Hydraulic Head, Darcy’s
Law and other hydrogeological properties of aquifer

CVNG 1001 – Mechanics of Fluids 1

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
 Hydrogeology: what for ?

• Hydrogeology relates to groundwater, it is used to:

– Define or assess resources
– Manage resources (providing, cleaning or protecting)
– Resolve problems involving groundwater (creating alternative water supply,
hazardous waste management, oil movement and extraction..)

• Hydrogeology is usually closely linked with hydrology which deals with surface
water (i.e. flood management, wetlands, river ecosystem, irrigation…)

• Groundwater is water that exists in the pore spaces and fractures in rock and
sediment beneath the Earth’s surface.

CVNG 1001 – Mechanics of Fluids 1

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
What is Groundwater ?
Water covers 71% of the earth’s surface

Readily accessible freshwater

CVNG 1001 – Mechanics of Fluids 1
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
To know the water system of the Earth we need to know the Hydrologic Cycle
The Hydrologic Cycle refers to the natural movement of water between various places
on earth: the atmosphere, inside living things, the earth’s surface (the ocean, rivers,
and lakes), and underground

CVNG 1001 – Mechanics of Fluids 1

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
 GROUNDWATER
Water that comes from the ground

Groundwater is that part of precipitation that infiltrates through the soil to underground

Groundwater is the water

below the ground surface
occupying the pore spaces
in rocks and soils

CVNG 1001 – Mechanics of Fluids 1

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
 ZONES OF UNDERGROUND WATER

Zone of aeration/ vadose zone: A zone that contains both water and air
Saturated zone: Where all the interconnected openings between rock particles are filled with
water
Soil moisture: Water in the upper layers of zone of aeration
Groundwater: Called the water in the zone of saturation
Capillary fringe/ tension-saturated zone: The lower subdivision of the zone of aeration that
overlies the zone of saturation and in which the pressure of water in the interstices is lower
than atmospheric
CVNG 1001 – Mechanics of Fluids 1
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
 Water Table

Surface that divide saturated zone and unsaturated zone

Most accurate definition is:
The water table is the surface where hydraulic head or water
pressure head is equal to the atmospheric pressure

It may be conveniently visualized as the "surface" of the subsurface materials that are saturated
with groundwater in a given vicinity
Hydraulic head is a specific measurement of water pressure which helps the water to rise above a
datum
Atmospheric pressure is the force per unit area exerted on a surface by the weight of air above that
surface in the atmosphere of Earth
CVNG 1001 – Mechanics of Fluids 1
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
 In the zone of saturation where ground water is
stored is also called Aquifer

Aquifer is an underground layer of water-bearing

permeable rock or unconsolidated geologic unit with a
significant capacity to store and transmit water, i.e. a
pumping well will yield > 1 litre/min (enough to supply a
home with water)

Many people tend to think of aquifers as “underground lakes” which is not the case because water is
held between rock particles
Common examples: unconsolidated sands, gravels sandstones and limestones (fractured and/or
karstic)

Aquitards:
May have sufficient capacity to store water, but transmits water very slowly! Does not supply
sufficient water to wells when pumped
e.g. clays, silts, silty clays

CVNG 1001 – Mechanics of Fluids 1

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
 Confined Aquifer

Aquifer
Unconfined Aquifer

Perched Aquifer

CVNG 1001 – Mechanics of Fluids 1

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
 Confined aquifer
Sandwiched between confining beds (layers of impermeable materials such as clay which
impede the movement of water into and out of the aquifer)

Because of the confining beds, ground water in these aquifers is under high pressure

Because of the high pressure, the water level in a well will rise to a level higher than the
water level at the top of the aquifer

CVNG 1001 – Mechanics of Fluids 1

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
 The water level in the well
is referred to as the
Potentiometic Surface or
pressure surface

Because of the high pressure,

the water can flow in a well if
the ground level cuts and goes
below the water table –Artesian
Well flow

CVNG 1001 – Mechanics of Fluids 1

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
 Unconfined Aquifers

Where groundwater is in direct contact with the atmosphere through the open pore spaces of the
overlying soil or rock

The upper groundwater surface in an unconfined aquifer is water table

Typical examples of unconfined aquifers include many areas of coastal sands and alluvial deposits
in river valleys

CVNG 1001 – Mechanics of Fluids 1

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
CVNG 1001 – Mechanics of Fluids 1
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
 Recharge of Ground water
Confined aquifers
At some point the lithological unit that
comprises the confined aquifer is exposed to the
surface
This is the aquifer's recharge zone, and it may
be miles away from where one hopes to
construct a well

Unconfined aquifers are

usually recharged by rain or
stream water infiltrating
directly through the overlying
soil

CVNG 1001 – Mechanics of Fluids 1

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
CVNG 1001 – Mechanics of Fluids 1
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
PERCHED AQUIFERS
If a low permeable clay layer is enclosed in a high permeable sand formation –
Form a discontinuous saturated lense type zone
With unsaturated conditions existing both above and below it

In the area within ABCDA

ABC portion is perched water table
ADC is inverted water table

ABCDA is perched aquifer

CVNG 1001 – Mechanics of Fluids 1

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
 Two characteristics of all material that affect the presence and movement of
ground water :

(a) Porosity - size and amount of void spaces

If total unit volume (𝑉𝑉𝑇𝑇 ) of a soil or rock is divided into the volume of solid portion (𝑉𝑉𝑆𝑆 )
and the volume of voids or pores (𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉 )
𝑉𝑉𝑣𝑣
𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃 𝑛𝑛 =
𝑉𝑉𝑇𝑇

Porosity is closely related to void ratio (e);

Void ratio is define as:
𝑉𝑉𝑣𝑣 𝑛𝑛 𝑒𝑒
𝑒𝑒 = 𝑒𝑒 = or 𝑛𝑛 =
𝑉𝑉𝑠𝑠 1−𝑛𝑛 1+𝑒𝑒

(b) Permeability - the relative ease with which water can move through spaces in the
rock.

CVNG 1001 – Mechanics of Fluids 1

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
 How Does Groundwater Move?
Water table is not a static level surface, rather a sloping surface that may exhibit hills and
valleys similar to those of the land surface

Direction of flow is downslope

Slope due to:

1. By unequal additions of water to the ground-water
reservoir at different places
2. Topography
3. Pressure difference / hydraulic gradient
4. Differences in transmissibility of the water-bearing
materials

This is where the groundwater is released into

streams, lakes, wetlands, or springs (discharge areas)

CVNG 1001 – Mechanics of Fluids 1

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
2. General topography of the land surface;
As the diagram shows, groundwater
flowing west of this divide empties
or discharges into the Wisconsin
River system or watershed and
groundwater flowing east of the
divide empties into the Tomorrow
River system

CVNG 1001 – Mechanics of Fluids 1

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
3. Pressure difference/ Hydraulic gradient

Hydraulic head or piezometric head is a specific measurement of liquid pressure above

a vertical datum.

It is usually measured as a liquid surface elevation, expressed in units of length, at the

entrance (or bottom) of a piezometer.

H is a measure of the mechanical energy that

causes groundwater to flow

Hydraulic head (h) can be calculated two ways:

1. Sum of pressure head (hp) and elevation head
(z), or h=(hp + z)
2. Difference between the land surface
elevation and depth to water, or h=(land
elevation - depth to water)

CVNG 1001 – Mechanics of Fluids 1

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
The pressure head (hp) is the height that
water rises in a Piezometer (a well that is
open only at the top and bottom of its
casing)

The elevation head (z) is the elevation

of the bottom of the piezometer or
measuring point in feet above sea
level

CVNG 1001 – Mechanics of Fluids 1

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
In 1856, Henri Darcy concluded the velocity of groundwater is related to:
(a) Hydraulic gradient: the slope of the water table;

Slope (gradient) in water table is determined by the difference in water table elevation
(h) over a specified distance (L)

Groundwater moves from areas of higher elevation or higher pressure/hydraulic head

(recharge areas) to areas of lower elevation or pressure/hydraulic head

CVNG 1001 – Mechanics of Fluids 1

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
CVNG 1001 – Mechanics of Fluids 1
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
(b) Coefficient of permeability of the rock or sediment through which the water is
flowing
*Coefficient of permeability, called hydraulic conductivity, is determined by
permeability, density, and viscosity of water

Groundwater moves extremely slowly---usually inches per day, whereas rivers

move more swiftly--feet per second (ft/sec)
In sandy soils, groundwater moves more quickly, between 1-5 feet per day

4. Transmissivity (T)
Rate at which water of prevailing kinematic viscosity is transmitted through a unit width
of aquifer under a unit hydraulic gradient

T = Kb b = saturated thickness of the aquifer SI unit = m2/s

CVNG 1001 – Mechanics of Fluids 1

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
 How Fast Does Groundwater Flow?
Darcy's law is a simple proportional relationship between instantaneous
discharge rate (Q) through a porous medium, viscosity of fluid and pressure drop
over a given distance

𝐾𝐾𝐾𝐾(𝑃𝑃𝑏𝑏 − 𝑃𝑃𝑎𝑎 )
𝑄𝑄 = −
𝜇𝜇𝐿𝐿

Q = rate of water flow (volume per time)

K = hydraulic conductivity
A = column cross sectional area,
the pressure drop (Pb - Pa), μ = viscosity (Pa·s) and
L = the length over which the pressure drop is taking place (m)

CVNG 1001 – Mechanics of Fluids 1

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Darcy velocity or Specific Discharge

We can modify Darcy’s Law to Darcy velocity or specific discharge:

𝐾𝐾𝐾𝐾(𝑃𝑃𝑏𝑏 − 𝑃𝑃𝑎𝑎 ) 𝑄𝑄 𝐾𝐾(𝑃𝑃𝑏𝑏 − 𝑃𝑃𝑎𝑎 )

𝑄𝑄 = − = 𝑞𝑞 = −
𝜇𝜇𝜇𝜇 𝐴𝐴 𝜇𝜇𝜇𝜇
(𝑃𝑃𝑏𝑏 − 𝑃𝑃𝑎𝑎 ) (ℎ𝑎𝑎 − ℎ𝑏𝑏 ) 𝑑𝑑𝑑
𝑞𝑞 = −𝐾𝐾 𝑞𝑞 = −𝐾𝐾 𝑞𝑞 = − 𝐾𝐾
𝐿𝐿 𝐿𝐿 𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑

K is hydraulic conductivity; (hb-ha) is the difference in altitude;

L is the horizontal distance between 2 points; 𝑣𝑣 is flow velocity

CVNG 1001 – Mechanics of Fluids 1

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
  Hydraulic Conductivity (K)
A medium has a unit hydraulic conductivity if it will transmit in a unit time a unit volume
of groundwater at a prevailing kinematic viscosity through a cross section of unit area,
measured at right angles to the direction of flow under a unit hydraulic gradient
𝑣𝑣
K= - SI unit = m/s
𝑑𝑑𝑑/𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑

Intrinsic Permeability (k)

Ability of a substance to allow another substance to pass through it, especially ability of a
porous rock, sediment, or soil to transmit fluid through pores and cracks
𝐾𝐾𝜇𝜇
k= This is a property of the medium only not of the flowing fluid
𝜌𝜌𝜌𝜌
K = Hydraulic conductivity, μ = dynamic viscosity, ρ = fluid density and
g = acceleration of gravity
SI unit = m2

CVNG 1001 – Mechanics of Fluids 1

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
 Heterogeneity and Anisotropy of Hydraulic Conductivity
Homogeneity & Heterogeneity
Formation is homogeneous: Formation is heterogeneous:
If hydraulic conductivity is independent If hydraulic conductivity is dependent
of position within a geologic formation of position within a geologic formation

If x,y,z is coordinate of a point, then for homogeneous formation K(y,y,z) = C,

while for heterogeneous formation K(x,y,z) ≠ C
z

x,y,z

CVNG 1001 – Mechanics of Fluids 1

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Isotropy & Anisotropy

Formation is Isotropic:
If hydraulic conductivity is independent
of the direction of measurement at a
point within a geologic formation

Formation is Anisotropic:
If hydraulic conductivity is dependent
of the direction of measurement at a
point within a geologic formation

CVNG 1001 – Mechanics of Fluids 1

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering