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Groundwater Development
• Groundwater development is designed to satisfy a certain demand of water or
to assess the groundwater resources of a watershed.
• A watershed describes an area of land that contains a common set of streams
and rivers that all drain into a single larger body of water, such as a larger
GROUNDWATER DEVELOPMENT river, a lake or an ocean
• Groundwater
• Water available below the ground surface in soil/rock pores
• Also known as “sub‐surface water”
• is found in vast quantities filling the spaces between grains of soil or rock; it slowly flows
through aquifers; it connects with rivers, streams, lakes and wetlands; it feeds trees and
vegetation
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Darcy’s law: for modeling groundwater flow
Modeling of groundwater flow is important for a variety of applications, such
as groundwater flow from an aquifer through wells for water supply or
irrigation, and remediation of groundwater contamination. A primary tool for
DARCY’S LAW groundwater modeling is Darcy's Law, the subject of this article.
Darcy’s Law is an empirical relationship for liquid flow through a porous
medium. A common application is groundwater flow through an aquifer.
FOR MODELING Darcy’s Law gives the relationship among the flow rate of the groundwater, the
cross‐sectional area of the aquifer perpendicular to the flow, the hydraulic
gradient, and the hydraulic conductivity of the aquifer.
GROUNDWATER FLOW
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Darcy's Law Equation Darcy's Law Equation
Q = KA(hL/L) Q = KA(hL/L)
The equation for Darcy’s Law is based
on the observations that the flow rate • Q = flow rate of liquid through the
through a porous medium (such as an porous medium, typically in ft3/sec,
aquifer) is proportional to the cross‐ • A = cross‐sectional area perpendicular
sectional area perpendicular to flow and to flow, typically in ft2,
is also proportional to the head loss per
unit length in the direction of flow.
• hL = head loss over a horizontal
length, L, in the direction of flow
Putting these two proportionalities (hL in ft and L in ft)
together gives the following equation:
Darcy's Law Equation Darcy's Law Equation
Q = KA(hL/L) Darcy’s Law defines groundwater flow:
Darcy's Law is valid only for laminar flow, which occurs for Reynold's
ௗ
number less than 1. Reynold's number (Re) for flow through a porous Q = kvA
medium is defined as: Re = ρVL/μ, where ρ and μ are the density and ௗ௫
viscosity of the liquid, V is the flow velocity (Q/A), and L is a characteristic Where:
length, typically taken as the mean grain diameter of the medium. Most Q is discharge ( L‐3 T‐1 )
practical applications of groundwater flow have Re < 1, and thus can be
modeled with Darcy's Law.
k is the hydraulic conductivity ( L T‐1 )
A is the area of flow ( L2 ), and
dht / dx is the gradient of pressure, or head
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HYDRAULIC PROCESSES:
Hydraulic Conductivity
Groundwater Flow
Groundwater flows through porous media, fractured media, and
large passages (karst). Porous media consist of solid material and
voids or pore space. Porous media contain relatively small openings
in the solid and are permeable media allowing the flow of water.
The porous media that we typically are interested in for
groundwater flow include natural soils, unconsolidated sediments,
and sedimentary rocks. The size range of particles in a soil is
referred to as the soil texture.
HYDRAULIC PROCESSES:
HYDRAULIC PROCESSES:
Groundwater Flow
Groundwater Flow
The subsurface occurrence of
groundwater, as shown in Figure 6.1.2,
Grain size determines the particle size can be divided into the vadose zone
classification. The fraction of clay, silt, (zone operation) and the zone of
and sand in a soil texture is described by saturation. The vadose zone, also called
the soil texture triangle, shown in Figure the unsaturated or partially saturated
6.1.1. Each point on the triangle zone, is the subsurface media above the
corresponds to different percentages by water table. The term vadose is derived
mass (weight) of clay, sand, and silt. from the Latin vadosus, meaning
shallow.
Figure 6.1.1 Triangle of soil textures for describing
Figure 6.1.2 Divisions of subsurface water
various combinations of sand, silt and clay (from U.S.
(Todd and Mays, 2005)
Soil Conservation Service (1951)).
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HYDRAULIC PROCESSES: HYDRAULIC PROCESSES:
Groundwater Flow Groundwater Flow
The following are different types of confining beds (Todd and Mays, 2005):
• Aquiclude – A saturated but relatively impermeable material that does not
yield appreciable quantities of water to wells;
• Aquifuge – A relatively impermeable formation neither containing nor
transmitting water; solid granite belongs in this category.
• Aquitard – A saturated but poorly permeable stratum that impedes
groundwater movement and does not yield water freely to wells, but that
may transmit appreciable water to or from adjacent aquifers and, where
sufficiently thick, may constitute an important groundwater storage zone;.
Hydraulic Head
Pressure:
P = ρghp
Where:
ρ = density of water ( kg m‐3 )
g = gravitational acceleration ( m s‐2 )
hp = pressure head
Total Hydraulic Head (ht ) :
ht = z + hp
Where:
z = elevation
hp = pressure head