APPLICATION OF GROUNDWATER

FLOW

Ir. Iwan Kridasantausa Ph.D

 DARCY’S LAW
 The movement of groundwater is well established
by hydraulic principles (Henry Darcy, 1856)
 Bernoulli equation :

p1 v12 p2 v22
  z1    z2  h1
 2g  2g
Where :
p : pressure
 : specific weight of water
v : velocity
z : elevation
h1 : head loss
 Because velocities are very small in porous
media, velocity heads may be neglected, so :
p  p 
h1   1  z1    2  z2 
   

 Darcy related flow rate to head loss and length of

column through a proportionality constant as K
(hydraulic conductivity), a measure of the
permeability of the porous media, so :
Q dh
V    K
A dL
 Known as DARCY LAW’S
 The negative sign indicates that flow of water is
in the direction of decreasing head
 Darcy velocity : Q
Vs 
nA
HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY
 Hydraulic conductivity (K) express in m/day (ft/day)
 Transmissivity (T) is a term often used in ground
water hydraulics as applied to confined aquifer and
express in m/day or ft/day
 Intrinsic permeability of a rock soil (k) is a property
of the medium only, independent of fluid properties,
and express as : K
k
Where : g
 : dynamic viscosity
 : fluid density
g : gravitational constant
 K has unit of m2 or darcy, equal to 0,987 (m)2
PROPERTIES OF SOIL

 Natural soils consist of solid material, water and

air
 Porosity (n) is the volume of the pores per unit
total volume
 The degree of saturation (Sr) is the volume of the
water in the pores per unit total pore volume (with
value : 0-1)
 Compressibility value are 10-8 to 10-7 m2/N for sand
and 10-7 to 10-6 m2/N for clay
PROPERTIES OF WATER

 Density of water () is about 1000 kg/m3

 The density may vary with pressure,
temperature and the concentration of dissolved
material (salt, etc)
 Unit weight () is multiplaying density () by the
gravity constant g ( 9.81 m/s2)
 Dynamic viscosity for water is about 10-3 kg/m

 The kinematic viscosity () about 10-6 m2/s

 The compressibility () for water is about 0.5 x

10-9 m2/N
BASIC EQUATION FOR STEADY FLOW (1)

Darcy’s Law  h1  h2 h

Q  kA  kA
L L
 Where : Q = flow rate; k = hydraulic conductivity;
A = cross-sectional area; L = length of the sand
filter flow path; (h1-h2) = head drop
 If the specific discharge q is defined as Q/A one
now obtain, when passing to the limit L0, so :
h
q  v  k
L
 Where v = discharge velocity
 It should be noted that average velocity of the
water is Q/nA > specific discharge (q)
BASIC EQUATION FOR STEADY FLOW (2)

 Permeability ()  n 3
  cd 2
(1  n) 2
n : porosity of the soil
d : some mean particle size
  clay : 10-17 to 10-15
  silt : 10-15 to 10-13
  sand : 10-12 to 10-10
  gravel : 10-9 to 10-8
 Anisotropy
 Continuity equation
DERIVING GROUNDWATER FLOW
EQUATION (1)

Principle of Mass Darcy Law’s

Conservation

Groundwater Flow
Equation
DERIVING GROUNDWATER FLOW EQUATION (2)
THE MAIN EQUATION OF GROUNDWATER
FLOW

 This is parabolic partial differential equation

 It’s the main equation of groundwater flow in
saturated media
 It is solvable only by numerical method

 The solution of which yields h (x,y,z,t) in a

heterogeneous anisotropic confined aquifer
 Also known as “diffusion equation”
SIMPLIFICATION OF EQUATION
 For homogenous but anisotropic aquifer

 For homogenous and isotropic

 For horizontal flow

 Steady state flow

LAPLACE EQUATION

 One of the most useful field equation employed in

hydrogeology
 For steady state equation  only boundary
condition are needed
 Types of boundary condition :
 Dirichlet boundary condition  specified head at a
boundary
 Neumann bondary condition  specified water flux
at a boundary
 Cauchy bondary condition  relates hydraulic head
to water flux
GRAPHICAL SOLUTION OF STEADY-STATE FLOW
EQ : TECHNIQUE OF FLOW NET
1. Flow Net in Isotropic Soil
Originates from Darcy’s Law
 h 
q  K (d m x1) 1 
 dl  h
h 
Where h1  h2 and nd
So : q  K dm h (one flow channel)
dl nd

For nf such channels :

n f dm
q K h dm  dl, so :
nd dl
nf
q Kh [ L2T 1 ]
nd
Where :
q : rate of flow or seepage per unit weight
nf : number of flow channels
nd : number of equipotential drops
h : total head loss in flow system
K : hydraulic conductivity
Since each potential line indicates the available head, the uplift
pressure at the base of the structure can be given :
 n 
u  h  Z  w [ FL2 ]
 nd 
Where :
u : uplift water pressure
n : number of the equipotential line counting last line on the
downstream as zero
nd : number of potential drops
h : total head loss in flow system
Z : depth of the base below the datum
PROCEDURE TO DRAW A FLOW NET

 Equipotential lines cross flow lines at a right

angle
 Shapes formed by equipotential and flow lines
should be as close to square as possible
 Impermeable boundaries are flow lines

 The soil-water interface at upstream and

downstream of a structure is an equipotential
line
 The seepage surface is a flow line
2. Flow Net in Anisotropic Soil
Because Kx ≠ Kz, the procedure as follow :
 Transform all horizontal dimensions
into notional dimensions using :

x'  x K z / K x [ L]
Where :
x : natural horizontal dimensions
x’ : notional horizontal dimensions
 Draw the cross section of the structure
in natural vertical dimensions and
notional (disorted) horizontal
dimensions, to a convenient scale
 Sketch the flow net as usual
 Deternime the rate of flow using :
nf
q K x K z h [ L2T 1 ]
nd
 ANALITICAL SOLUTION OF THE STEADY-
STATE REGION
1) Confined Groundwater Flow between Two Water
Bodies

h0  h
q KD [ L2T 1 ]
x

2) Unconfined Flow between Two Water Bodies

h0  h
q KD [ L2T 1 ]
x

Where D is average thickness of the aquifer

3) Confined Flow to a Well

Q R
H h  ln [ L]
2bK r

Where :
H : piezometric head at radial distance R
h : piezometric head at any distance r
Q : discharge from the well
b : thickness of confined aquifer
bK : transmissivity of aquifer
4) Unconfined Flow to a Well

Q R
H h 
2 2
ln
K r

5) Travel time of Groundwater

D
t (R2  r 2 )
Q
Where :
t : time of travel from R to r
r : any radial distance
R : radial distance at the boundary from where the time of travel to be computed
D : thickness of the confined aquifer, b, or average saturated thickness between
radial distance R and r
 : porosity
 WELL FLOW NEAR BOUNDARIES : THEORY
OF IMAGES

Well near a stream Q y 2  ( a  x) 2

1)
s ln 2 [ L]
4bK y  (a  x) 2
Where :
a = horizontal distance of the well from the stream
x,y = coordinates of the point where drawdown is desired (the head is h)
2) Weel near an impermeable boundary
2Kbs
Q
ln( R 2 / r1r2 ) Where R = radius of influence or
boundary of the island
THANK YOU