ECW 557:

ENGINEERING HYDROLOGY

GROUNDWATER HYDROLOGY
By:
MADAM IRMA NOORAZURAH MOHAMAD
T1-A13-2C
irma1095@gmail.com
Ext: 6409/ 012-219 0315
WEEK 13&14: GROUNDWATER
HYDROLOGY
LEARNING OUTCOMES
At the end of the week, students should be able
to:
1. identify and differentiate various forms of
saturated formations (CO1);

2. define aquifer properties (CO1)

3. apply Darcy’s law for groundwater analysis

and perform 1-D & radial flow
groundwater flow analysis (CO2);
WEEK 13&14: GROUNDWATER
HYDROLOGY
LEARNING OUTCOMES
At the end of the week, students should be able
to:

1. identify and differentiate various forms of

saturated formations (CO1);
 Groundwater Hydrology
• In groundwater hydrology, attempt is made to
quantify the volume and the rate of flow of
groundwater.
• A more critical issue is the quality of underground
water which, due to rapid development, has been
evidentially contaminated.
 Groundwater Hydrology
• The study of hydrological cycle thus, would not be
complete without an understanding of this exchange of
water between ground and surface supplies.
• Groundwater hydrology studies the storage,
distribution and movement of water beneath the ground
surface.
 Groundwater
• It constitute 30% of the
world fresh water.
• It sustains streamflows
during precipitation-free
periods and constitutes the
major source of fresh water
for arid localities in
countries with vast inland.
 Groundwater Usage in Malaysia
• Groundwater forms >90% of total fresh water resources
in Malaysia, BUT less than 2% of total water usage
(Jabatan Mineral & Geosains Malaysia, 2000)
• Reasons:
• Fail to recognize potential of groundwater resources
• Misconception that groundwater exploitation is not
sustainable
• Lack of full assessment of groundwater resources
 Groundwater
• Groundwater is the precipitation that infiltrates the soil
and penetrates to the underlying strata.

* capillary fringe is the subsurface layer in which groundwater seeps up from a water table by
capillary action to fill pores.
 Subsurface Water/Groundwater

Aerated zone
capillary fringe zone

Saturated zone

Bedrock
 Saturated Zone Formation
• An aquifer is a permeable water-bearing stratum or
formation that is capable of transmitting water in
quantities sufficient to permit development i.e
unconsolidated sand & gravel
• An aquitard is a semi-porous layer that allows low
seepage rate and hence has relatively small yield. i.e
sandy clay/silt
• An aquiclude is an impermeable layer that may
contain large amount of water (waterlocked) but do not
permit effective development. i.e clay
• An aquifuge is neither porous nor permeable and
hence cannot transmit water. i.e massive compact rock
 Precipitation
Perched water table
Recharge
Ground surface

Water table
Clay lens
Unconfined aquifer (sand)

Aquitard (semi-porous silt)

Leaky aquifer (sandstone)

Aquiclude (clay)

Confined aquifer (limestone)

Aquiclude (clay)
Unconfined Aquifer
• VS

Confined Aquifer
 Unconfined Aquifer
• Characterised by a free water surface known as the water
table (phreatic surface)
• Subjected to atmospheric pressure only
• Tends to follow the topographic features
• Receive direct recharge from infiltration & percolation

Effluent stream
 Confined Aquifer
• Underlain by an impermeable layer and thus has no
phreatic surface
• It is under pressure and thus if a well is driven into it,
the pressure may cause the water to rise to a level
(known as piezometric surface or potentiometric
surface) higher than the ground.
• a.k.a artesian aquifer
Free water surface in an unconfined aquifer

A well drilled through impermeable strata to reach water capable of

rising to the surface by internal hydrostatic pressure

pressure is sufficient to force water flow

up through and out of a wellhole

static head of groundwater

and is defined by the level
to which water will rise.
Also known as
isopotential level;
piezometric surface;
pressure surface

Confined Aquifer
 Impermeable layer

free water
surface phreatic surface

artesian spring

spring
piezometric
surface
phreatic
surface free water artesian well
surface
Unconfined
Aquifer

Confined
Aquifer
fault line
Artesian Spring
Spring
Scientist sampling the spring water for testing.
Spring water are not necessary clean
Steamming hot!!
WEEK 13&14: GROUNDWATER
HYDROLOGY
LEARNING OUTCOMES
At the end of the week, students should be able
to:

2. define aquifer properties (CO1)

 Groundwater Movement
• Usually, groundwater flow is considered on a
macroscopic rather than microscopic scale.
• The fine details of the soil or rock structures are disregarded.
 Groundwater Movement
• Typically, a two-dimensional flow (sometimes one-
dimensional) of homogeneous fluid (single-phase
liquid) is considered.
• The boundaries may be impervious fixed geological
structures or man-made structures, and free water
surface (lines of seepage).
 Hydraulic Conductivity, K
• a.k.a permeability, OR coefficient of permeability
• measures the resistance to flow
• value depends on porous medium and fluid (Table 9.2,
pg 325)

• same unit as velocity, usu. in m/day or cm/s

• resistance K conductivity v 
• resistance K conductivity v 

Refer Table 9.2, pg325

Hydraulic Conductivity K
 Intrinsic Permeability K0
• value depends on medium only

K
K0   = 0.01cm2/s at 20°C
g

• dimension = [L2]
• unit: cm2, m2 OR darcy, where
1 darcy = 9.87x10-13 m2

K0 (darcy) = 1000K (cm/s) at 20°C

 Darcy’s Law
Consider a flow through a porous path with constant cross-
sectional area (A), and a flow rate (Q), the discharge per
unit area, defined as the specific discharge (v) is
v=Q/A=Ki
K = hydraulic conductivity
i = hydraulic gradient = – Dh/Dx (dimensionless)

where Dx is the distance traveled, and

Dh is the change in head (–)
 Darcy’s Law

Ground surface

(1) (2)
Dx
Dh

Impervious bed
 Darcy’s Law pg324
Assumptions:
• soil is homogenous
• soil is isotropic ( vx = vy )
• flow is at steady state
• laminar flow only (Re is in the order of 1)

V=Q/A=Ki
V = apparent velocity of seepage
Or discharge velocity
(V is not actual velocity through pores)
 Bulk Pore Velocity va
• It is the actual velocity of the flow through the pores

v va
va   v
n

v v

v = apparent velocity or discharge velocity, calculated

using Darcy’s eq. & n is porosity
 Porosity n
• Porosity is the amount of pore space per unit volume

Vv
n
V

• It represents the water storage capacity: generally

n>0.2 is consider large storage capacity
• The value depends on: particle size distribution,
particle shape, packing and consolidation.
 Stratification pg327
impervious

K1 B1

Ke 
 KB i i
K2 B2
B i
K3 B3

impervious

impervious

Ke 
 Li K1 K2

L / K
i i

L1 L2

impervious Length of seepage

Stratified ~ having multiple/different permeability in each strata

 Specific Yield Sy
• Sy is the actual volume of water that can be drained by
gravity from a unit volume of aquifer
Vw
Sy  Typical values range between 0.01 to 0.30
V

• The fraction of water held back due to surface tension

& adhesion etc, is known as specific retention Sr,
where
n  S y  Sr

Refer Table 9.1, pg324

 Vv Vw Vw1  Vw 2
n  
V V V
Vw1 Vw 2
 
V V
 S y  Sr
Common aquifer
Network of free draining fissures
 Transmissivity, T
• OR transmissibility
• Definition: discharge per unit hydraulic gradient, per
unit width

Q = A v = (B x 1) ( K i ) = K B

T =KB [L2T-1]

• Used to compare yield from different aquifer

• Generally, the yield is consider satisfactory if
T > 105 lpd/m deep
 Compressibility
• In confined aquifer the total pressure at any point due
to overburden is borne by the combined action of the
pore pressure and intergranular pressure.
• The grains are incompressible but the pore water is
compressible.
• If overburden storage capacity
• If water is pumped out, pressure storage capacity
 Specific Storage, Ss
• Volume of water released from storage from a unit
volume of aquifer due to a unit decrease in the
piezometric head.
• The volume of water an aquifer takes in or released
per unit volume of saturated aquifer per unit change in
head normal to the surface.
• Typical value is in the order of 0.0004/m
 Storativity, S
• a.k.a storage coefficient
• volume of water released by a column of a confined
aquifer of unit cross-sectional area under a unit
decrease in the piezometric head.
•It is the volume of water an aquifer takes in or released
per unit surface area of aquifer per unit change in head
normal to the surface.
• Typical values range between 5x10-3 to 5x10-5

S  Ss B B = aquifer thickness
 Storativity, S
• For unconfined aquifer,

S  Sy

• For confined aquifer,

S  S y  Ss B

Example 9.1 & Example 9.2

Problem solving: Q9.2, 9.5, 9.6, 9.7
WEEK 13&14: GROUNDWATER
HYDROLOGY
LEARNING OUTCOMES
At the end of the week, students should be able
to:

3. apply Darcy’s law for groundwater

analysis and perform 1-D & radial flow
groundwater flow analysis (CO2);
 Groundwater Flow

1. One-dimensional Flow
• Confined aquifer
• Unconfined aquifer (with/ without recharge)

2. Well Flow (Radial Flow) (Steady & Unsteady flow)

• Confined aquifer
• Unconfined aquifer
GROUNDWATER in 1-D FLOW
 Equation of Motion pg333
Basic differential equation governing unsteady groundwater
flow in a homogenous, isotropic confined aquifer:
say
 h  h  h S h
2 2 2
 2 2   2
h  2
h  2
h
x 2
y z T t  h 2  2  2
2

x y z
S h
 h
2
Diffusion equation
T t
For steady flow condition δh/δt does not exist, so:

 2h  0 Laplace equation –
fundamental eqtn of all
potential flow
Consider steady state, 1D flow in a (confined aquifer)
pg334

Ground surface

Upstream Impervious boundary Downstream

h0 h1
B h
Confined aquifer

x=0 Impervious horizontal bed

x
L
Using the Laplace eq.  2h  0
As the flow is in x-direction only :
 2h
0
x 2

Integrating twice, and applying the boundary conditions:

h = h0 at x = 0 h = h1 at x = L

 h0  h1 
We get the hydraulic grade line as h  h0   x (9.29)
 L 

dh  h0  h1 
or   
dx  L 
 Q
From Darcy’s eq. v  Ki
B 1
 dh 
q  KBi  KB  
 dx 
Discharge per unit
width of the aquifer q
KB
h0  h1  (9.30)
L
Unit: m3/day/m width
Consider steady state, 1D flow in (unconfined aquifer)
pg 335
Dupit’s assumptions:
• curvature of free surface is small so that
streamlines are assumed horizontal
• hydraulic gradient is equal to the slope of free
surface and does not vary with depth
Steady state, 1D flow in (unconfined flow with recharge)
Uniform recharge, R (m3/s/m2)

Ground surface

h Hm @ hmax
h0 h1
Upstream Unconfined aquifer Downstream

Water divide

x=0 Impervious horizontal bed

x
x=a
L
  2h2 2R
Using the Laplace eq.  Pg336&337
x 2
K
Integrating twice to x, and applying the boundary conditions:

h = h0 at x = 0 h = h1 at x = L

We get the hydraulic grade line as

Rx 2
1  RL2

h 
2
  h0  h1 
2 2
 x  h02 (9.37) pg338
K L K 

dh 2 Rx 1  2 RL2 
2h    h0  h1 
2

dx K L K 
 Q
From Darcy’s eq. v  Ki
h 1
 dh 
q  Khi  Kh  
 dx 
Discharge per unit  L K 2
q  R x    
h0  h12  (9.39)
width of the aquifer  2  2L
Unit: m3/day/m width

At x = 0, q0  
RL K 2

2 2L

h0  h12  (+/–)

At x = L, qL  
RL K 2

2 2L
 
h0  h12  RL  q0
 dh
At the water divide, 0
dx

Hence, 2Rx 1  2 RL2 

   h0  h1 
2
  0
K L K 

xa
L

K
2 2 RL

h02  h12  (9.38)

Substituting into the hydraulic grade line yields the

maximum head hm
 Rx 2 1  2 RL2 
From (eq. 9.37) h 
2
  h0  h1 
2
 x  h02
K L K 

If R = 0
2 2
0
x 2
h  h   h0  h12
L
 
(+) only
Discharge per unit
width of the aquifer
q
K 2 2
2L
 
h0  h1 (eq. 9.42)

Ground surface

h
h0 h1
Unconfined aquifer

Upstream Downstream
x=0 Impervious horizontal bed
x
L
Steady state, 1D flow in (unconfined flow without recharge)
Steady state, 1D flow in (unconfined flow tile drain problem)
Uniform recharge R (m3/s/m2)

Ground surface

Water divide
hm Unconfined aquifer

Impervious horizontal bed

Tile drain Tile drain
a L
Tile drain~removing excess water from the subsurface of soil/drain system used in draining
waterlogged areas
Applying the boundary conditions: h0 = h1 = 0

h  L  x x
2 R
We get the hydraulic grade line as
K

L L R
Water divide is located at a and hm 
2 2 K

Discharge q0   RL / 2 hence q  RL
qL   RL / 2

Example 9.4 & 9.5, pg340-343

Problem solving: Q9.9, 9.11, 9.12
GROUNDWATER in WELL FLOW
 Groundwater Flow

2. Well Flow (Radial Flow)

• Confined aquifer (Steady flow)
• Unconfined aquifer (Steady & Unsteady flow)
 Wells
• Wells are holes or shafts, typically vertical, excavated
in the earth for the purpose of collecting groundwater.
• Horizontal conduits known as infiltration galleries,
which intercepts and collect groundwater by gravity
flow, are sometimes used.
 Well Structure
Typically an opened section made of perforated
casing/ slotted metal screen which function to:
• permit water to enter
• prevent soil collapse
• block off fine particles
It must be structurally strong, corrosion resistant and
reasonably cheap, and minimize loss of head possible.
 Dug Well

Hacking at the ground with a pick and

shovel is one way to dig a well.
If the ground is soft and the water table is
shallow, then dug wells can work.
They are often lined with stones to prevent
them from collapsing.
They cannot be dug much deeper than the
water table -- just as you cannot dig a hole
very deep when you are at the beach... it
keeps filling up with water!
Driven Well
Driven wells are still common today.
They are built by driving a small-diameter
pipe into soft earth, such as sand or
gravel.
A screen is usually attached to the bottom
of the pipe to filter out sand and other
particles.
Problems? They can only tap shallow
water, and because the source of the water
is so close to the surface, contamination
from surface pollutants can occur.
 Drilled Well

Most modern wells are drilled, which

requires a fairly complicated and expensive
drill rig.
Drill rigs are often mounted on big trucks.
They use rotary drill bits that chew away at
the rock, percussion bits that smash the
rock, or, if the ground is soft,large auger
bits.
Drilled wells can be drilled more than
1,000 feet deep. Often a pump is placed at
the bottom to push water up to the surface.
STEADY FLOW in WELL FLOW
 Steady state, radial flow in a confined aquifer

Area of influence

Observation wells Discharge

Ground surface
Original piezometric surface

Drawdown curve Drawdown

Cone of depression
Impervious boundary
Well screen
Available head
Confined aquifer

Radius of influence Impervious horizontal bed

Steady state, radial flow in a confined aquifer

2rw
s
sw
H

B hw h Confined aquifer

R r
 Q dh dh
At distance r vr  K ( )
2rB dr dr
Q r2 dr h2

2B r1 r
 K  dh
h1

(9.46)
Q r2
ln  h2  h1
2KB r1

Thiem’s eq.: 2T (h2  h1 )

Q (m3/day)
ln r2 / r1

2T ( s1  s2 ) s1 = H – h1 s2 = H – h2
(9.47) 
ln r2 / r1

2Tsw
(9.48)  s1 = sw s2 = 0
ln R / rw r1 = rw r2 = R
Steady state, radial flow in an unconfined aquifer
(Dupit’s assumptions applies)

2rw
Phreatic surface
s
sw
H

hw h Unconfined aquifer

R r Impervious horizontal bed

 Q r2 dr h2
As before:
2K 
r1 r
  hdh
h1

K (h22  h12 )
Q (m3/day) (9.49)
ln r2 / r1
K ( H 2  hw2 ) s1 = sw s2 = 0
(9.50) 
ln R / rw r1 = rw r2 = R

Example: 9.6, 9.7 (confined aquifer),

9.8 (unconfined aquifer)
UNSTEADY FLOW in WELL FLOW
 Unsteady Flow In A Confined Aquifer
• Pumping takes a VERY long time to achieve steady
state (equilibrium) especially for infinite extent and no
recharge
• For unsteady flow, the diffusion equation in polar
coordinate is written as
 2
h 1 h S h
 h 2 
2

r r r T t

• Solving the diffusion equation yields

Q
Drawdown at distance r from well s  W (u )
4T
W(u) is the well function which depends on
r 2S
the dimensionless parameter u
4Tt
where S = storage coefficient,
T = transmissibility,
t = time from start of pumping

u2 u3
W (u )  0.577  ln u  u   ... (9.55)
2.2! 3.3!

For u < 0.01, W(u) = -0.577 - ln u

 Well Function
u 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 5.0 6.0 7.0 8.0 9.0
x1 0.219 0.049 0.013 0.0038 0.0011 36x10-5 12 x10-5 38 x10-6 12 x10-6

x10-1 1.82 1.22 0.91 0.70 0.56 0.45 0.37 0.31 0.26
x10-2 4.04 3.35 2.96 2.68 2.47 2.30 2.15 2.03 1.92
x10-3 6.33 5.64 5.23 4.95 4.73 4.54 4.39 4.26 4.14
x10-4 8.63 7.94 7.53 7.25 7.02 6.84 6.69 6.55 6.44
x10-5 10.94 10.24 9.84 9.55 9.33 9.14 8.99 8.86 8.74

x10-6 13.24 12.55 12.14 11.85 11.63 11.45 11.29 11.16 11.04

x10-7 15.54 14.85 14.44 14.15 13.93 13.75 13.60 13.46 13.34

x10-8 17.84 17.15 16.74 16.46 16.23 16.05 15.90 15.76 15.65

x10-9 20.15 19.45 19.05 18.76 18.54 18.35 18.20 18.07 17.95

x10-10 22.45 21.76 21.35 21.06 20.84 20.66 20.50 20.37 20.25

x10-11 24.75 24.06 23.65 23.36 23.14 22.96 22.81 22.67 22.55

x10-12 27.05 26.36 25.96 25.67 25.44 25.26 25.11 24.97 24.86

x10-13 29.36 28.66 28.26 27.97 27.75 27.56 27.41 27.28 27.16

x10-14 31.66 30.97 30.56 30.27 30.05 29.87 29.71 29.58 29.46

x10-15 33.96 33.27 32.86 32.58 32.35 32.17 32.02 31.88 31.76
 Cooper-Jacob Method
Q
s W (u ) For u < 0.01, W(u) = -0.577 - ln u
4T

Q   r 2 S 
s  0.577  ln  
4T   4Tt 
Q  2.25Tt  i.e. s is directly related to t
s ln  2  (9.56)
4T  r S   Time vs drawdown plot

Q  t2 
s2  s1  ln    obtain T (9.57)
4T  t1 
 Time-drawdown plot

t0 Time t (log scale)

t1 t2

s1
Drawdown s

s2

Q  t2 
s2  s1  ln    obtain T
4T  t1 
 Q  2.25Tt 
From s ln  2 
4T  r S 

Theoretically s = 0 when t = t0
2.25Tt0 2.25Tt0
Hence 1 OR S (9.58)
2
r S r2

Example: 9.10, 9.11 pg 353

Problem solving: 9.25-9.27