Slug test

the general size (order of magnitude) of the aquifer

parameters is all the accuracy that is required.

A slug test is a particular type of aquifer test where water

is quickly added or removed from a groundwater well, and
the change in hydraulic head is monitored through time,
to determine the near-well aquifer characteristics. It is
a method used by hydrogeologists and civil engineers to
determine the transmissivity/hydraulic conductivity and
storativity of the material the well is completed in.

The size of the slug required is determined by the aquifer

properties, the size of the well and the amount of time
which is available for the test. For very permeable
aquifers, the pulse will dissipate very quickly. If the
well has a large diameter, a large volume of water must
be added to increase the level in the well a measurable
amount.

Slug test method

The slug of water can either be added to or removed from

the well the only requirement is that it be done as
quickly as possible (the interpretation typically assumes
instantaneously), then the water level or pressure is monitored. Depending on the properties of the aquifer and
the size of the slug, the water level may return to pre-test
levels very quickly (thus complicating accurate collection
of water level data).

3 Slug test interpretation

Because the ow rate into or out of the well is not constant, as is the case in a typical aquifer test, the standard
Theis solution does not work.
Mathematically, the Theis equation is the solution of the
groundwater ow equation for a step increase in discharge
rate at the pumping well; a slug test is instead an instantaneous pulse at the pumping well. This means that a
superposition (or more precisely a convolution) of an innite number of sequential slug tests through time would
eectively be a standard Theis aquifer test.

A slug can be added by either quickly adding a measured

amount of water to the well or something which displaces
a measured volume (e.g., a long heavy pipe with the ends
capped o). An alternative object is a solid polyvinyl
chloride (PVC) rod, with sucient weight to sink into
the groundwater. The objective here is to displace water,
not merely be heavy. A slug of water can be removed
using a bailer or pump, but this is more dicult to do
since it must be done very quickly and the equipment for
removing the water (pump or bailer) will likely be in the
way of getting water level measurements.

There are several known solutions to the slug test

problem; a common engineering approximation is the
Hvorslev method, which approximates the more rigorous
solution to transient aquifer ow with a simple decaying
exponential function.

The aquifer parameters obtained from a slug test are typically less representative of the aquifer surrounding the
well than an aquifer test which involves pumping in one
2 Performing a slug test
well and monitoring in another. Complications arise from
A slug test is in contrast to standard aquifer tests, which near-well eects (i.e., well skin and wellbore storage),
typically involve pumping a well at a constant owrate, which may make it dicult to get accurate results from
and monitoring the response of the aquifer in nearby mon- slug test interpretation.
itoring wells. Often slug tests are performed instead of a
constant rate test, because:

4 See also

time constraints (quick results, or results for a large

number of wells, are needed),

Aquifer test

the well does not or cannot have a pump installed on

it (slug tests do not require pumping),

Well test

the transmissivity of the material the well is cased in

is too low to realistically perform a proper pumping
test (common for aquitards or some bedrock monitoring wells), or
1

5 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

5.1

Text

Slug test Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slug%20test?oldid=643410848 Contributors: KrisK, SmackBot, Mwtoews, Gil Gamesh,
Sakurambo, Basar, Registered PG, Erik9bot, Look2See1, Dexbot and Anonymous: 10

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Contributors:
Created from scratch in Adobe Illustrator. Based on Image:Question book.png created by User:Equazcion Original artist:
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