Practical # 2

Determination of Hydraulic Head and

Hydraulic Gradient
 Learning Objectives
• Difference between observation well and piezometer

• Determination of hydraulic head and hydraulic gradient

 Observation Well
• The water table is determined by digging a hole in the soil and
observing the height to which the water will rise in it.
• Such observation well is an open hole partially filled with water and a
perforated pipe is placed in it for an easy inflow and outflow.
• They may be cased or uncased wells, depending on the stability of the
soil at each location.
Observation wells: (A) Uncased well in stable soil; (B): Cased well in unstable
soil
 Uncased Wells
• Uncased wells can easily be made with a hand auger as used in soil
surveys and can be 50 to 75 mm in diameter.
• They can be used successfully in soils that are stable enough to
prevent the borehole from collapsing.
• They are also a cheap means of measuring water table levels during
the first phase of a project (reconnaissance survey), when the primary
objective is to obtain a rough idea of the groundwater conditions in
the project area.
 Cased Wells
• When making an observation well in unstable soil, one has to use a
temporary casing, say 75 or 100 mm in diameter.
• The casing prevents sloughing and caving and makes it possible to
bore a hole that is deep enough to ensure that it always holds water.
• Whatever casing material is locally available can be used: sheet metal,
drain pipe or standard commercial types of well casing (steel or PVC).
 Piezometer
• Piezometer are used to measure the hydraulic head at the point of entrance in
substrata.
• Piezometer are open ended pipes, commonly made of galvanized steel varying in
size from 25 to 75 mm in diameter, driven into the ground, where hydraulic head
is to be measured.
• Water enter from the lower end and rises up to a height which indicates the
hydraulic head.
• To obtain data on the depth and configuration of the water table, the direction of
groundwater movement, and the location of recharge and discharge areas, a
network of observation wells and/or piezometers has to be established.
Example of water level in piezometers for different
conditions of soil and groundwater
 Hydraulic Head
• H is a measure of the mechanical energy that causes groundwater to flow.
Hydraulic head (h) can be calculated two ways:
1. the sum of pressure head (hp) and elevation head (z), or h=(hp + z).
2. the difference between the land surface elevation and depth to water, or
h=(land elevation - depth to water)
• 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 or meter above sea level.  
 Hydraulic Gradients
• Horizontal hydraulic gradient is simply the slope of the water table or
potentiometric surface.  It is the change in hydraulic head over the change in
distance between the two monitoring wells or dh/dl.  
• In mathematical terms, horizontal gradient is rise over run.

dh/dl= difference in head /  (h2 - h1) / L

horizontal distance
between wells=
Vertical Hydraulic Gradient:

dh/dl = difference in head /  (h2 - h1) / (z2-z1)

vertical distance
between wells=
 Problem 1
Data from three piezometers located within a few feet of each other is as follows:

  A B C
Elevation at land surface (ft) 335 335 335
Depth of monitoring well (ft) 170 130 85
Depth to water (ft below surface) 90 82 70
•  What is the hydraulic head (h) at each?

• What is the pressure head (hp) at each?

• What is the elevation head (z) at each?

• What is the vertical hydraulic gradient between Well A and Well B?

 Problem 2
• Two wells are located 100 feet apart in a sand aquifer with a hydraulic
conductivity of 0.04 feet per day and 35% porosity.  The head of Well
No. 1 is 96 feet and the head of Well No. 2 is 99 feet.  
• What is the horizontal hydraulic gradient between the wells? (h2 –h1)/L
• What is the velocity of water between the two wells? V = (K/n) (dh/dl)