GROUNDWATER FLOW

The Movement of Ground Water

most ground water moves relatively slowly
through rock underground
because it moves in response to differences
in water pressure and elevation, water
within the upper part of the saturated zone
tends to move downward following the
slope of the water table

Movement of Ground Water

(cont.)
factors affecting the flow of ground water:
the slope of the water table - the steeper the
water table, the faster ground water moves
permeability - if rock pores are small and
poorly connected, water moves slowly; when
openings are large and well connected, the flow
of water is more rapid

Force, pressure, energy and groundwater

Hydraulic Head
The height of a column of water above a
datum planned is called hydraulic head;
When considering the applied study of
groundwater, head is the elevation of water
in a well and mean sea level is generally
used as datum;
This is also known as the static water level;
Head as referred to here is the total head.

Example

gs elevation: 1000 m
DTW:
25 m
peizometer: 50 m
Water density: 1000 kg/m3

Find:
(a) Hydraulic head
(b) Pressure head
(c) pressure

11

Potential and groundwater flow

Rules for energy potential and groundwater flow:
-

Gw flows from high potential energy to low potential energy or in the direction of
decreasing total head;
Recharge areas are where potential energy decreases with depth;
Discharge areas are where potential energy increases with depth;
An equipotential line is a line connecting points of equal hydraulic head;
Gw contour streamlines are constructed perpendicular to equipotential lines;
GW streamlines diverge at areas of recharge;
GW streamlines converge at areas of discharge;
Equipotentials tend to be perpendicular to the face of a geologic boundary and gw
flows tend to parallel that boundary;
Equipotentials tend to be parallel to the face of a constant head boundary and gw
flows tend to perpendicular to that boundary;
Streamlines are at an oblique angle to the water table when recharge or discharge
occurs;
Streamlines refract across geologic beds with different K values;
A gw divide is a no flow boundary.

Equipotentials and boundary conditions

Hydraulic gradient

Hydraulic gradient is the slope of

water table or potentiometric
surface

# Flow through Porous Media

Darcys Law #
h1 h2
Q KA
L

dh
Q KA
dl

Q = Total flow

Q KIA

Specific discharge or flux

K = hydraulic conductivity

A = Cross-sectional area of flow

dh/l = hydraulic gradient

Q
q
A

a). Mercury manometer

b). Water manometer

Darcys Law
Henry Darcys Experiment (Dijon, France 1856)
Darcy investigated ground water flow under controlled conditions

h1

h2

Q
h
h Slope = h/x
h1
h2

h
x1

Q: Volumetric flow rate [L3/T]

A: Cross Sectional Area (Perp. to flow)
K: The proportionality constant is added
to form the following equation:
h : Hydraulic Gradient

Q A

~ dh/dx
x
x2

Q h, Q 1 x , Q A

h
x

Q K A

h
x

K units [L/T]

Calculating Velocity with Darcys Law

Q= Vw/t
Q: volumetric flow rate in m3/sec
Vw: Is the volume of water passing through area a during
t: the period of measurement (or unit time).

Q= Vw/t = HWD/t = av
a: the area available to flow
D: the distance traveled during t
v : Average linear velocity

In a porous medium: a = An

v
Vw

A: cross sectional area (perpendicular to flow)

n: porous for media of porosity

Q = Anv
v = Q/(nA)=q/n

K h
v
n x

Darcys Law (cont.)

Other useful forms of Darcys Law
Volumetric Flow Rate Q K A

Volumetric Flux
(a.k.a. Darcy Flux or
Specific discharge)

Q
A=

dh
dx

dh
q K
dx

Ave. Linear
Q
q
K dh
Velocity A.n = n = v
n dx
Assumptions: Laminar, saturated flow

Used for calculating

Volumes of groundwater
flowing during period of
time
Used for calculating
Q given A

Used for calculating

average velocity of
groundwater transport
(e.g., contaminant
transport

Horizontal flow

Vertical flow

Ex
Find the hydraulic gradient.

Ex
What is the discharge of groundwater to the river?

# Dupuit-Forchheimer Assumptions #
The flow is horizontal at any vertical crosssection
The velocity is constant over the depth

The velocity is calculated using the slope of

the free surface as the hydraulic gradient
The slope of the water table is relatively small

Further treatments of groundwater flow equations

Confined aquifer
The quantity of flow per unit width, q, may be determined
from Darcys law: q = Kb dh/dl
where,
q is the flow per unit width (m2/day)
K is the hydraulic conductivity (m/day)
b is the aquifer thickness (m)
dh/dl is the slope of potentiometric surface
(dimensionless

One may wish to know the head, h (m), at some intermediate distance, x (m),
between h1 and h2 .
This may be found from the equation.

h =h1 qx/KB
where, x is the distance from h1

Unconfined aquifer

From Darcys law,

q = Kh dh/dx
where h is the saturated thickness of the aquifer.
At x=0, h = h1 ; at x = L, h = h2

Rearrangement of equation yields the Dupuit equation

1 h12 h22

q K
2 L

Ex

Estimate the time taken for dissolved solutes to reach

a spring discharge area located down-gradient of the
waste tip?

# One-Dimensional Flow through

Porous Media Leaky Aquifers #

q K'

h h
'

Ex
The recharge rate is 0.3 m/yr or 8.22 x 10-4m/d.
The water table is at H = 30m above the datum.
The aquitard is 2 m thick and its vertical
hydraulic conductivity is K = 10-3m/d. The
unconfined aquifer is 20 m thick and has a
hydraulic conductivity K = 10-1m/d. Find the
piezometric head h at the bottom of the
unconfined aquifer and the difference in
elevation between the water table and the
piezometric surface of the confined aquifer.

Steady Flow over a Horizontal Aquiclude

h12 h22
qx K
2L

dh
Re x Kh
dx

K h12 h22 Re L2

Ex
For an unconfined aquifer with a
hydraulic conductivity K = 1.75 m/d, an
effective porosity of 0.3, and water
depths of 10 m and 8 m at two
observation wells 200 m apart, calculate
the discharge per unit width, the specific
discharge, and the pore velocity.

Seepage from Open Channels

Di H w 0.5Dw
Q 2 KDw
L 0.5Ws

Recharge Basins

dh
Re x T
dx

Ex
A long recharge basin has a width W =
70 m and the recharge rate is Re = 0.6
m/d. The observed heights of the
mound are hc = 1.2 m, and he = 0.7 m.
Find the aquifer transmissivity

For the case in which there is no

infiltration or evaporation, w=0

h
h

2
1

h22 x
L

K h12 h22
L

qx
w x
2L
2

hmax

2
1

2
1

h22 d w
L d d
L
K

2
1

2
1

h22 x w
L x x
L
K

where,
h is head at x(m)
K is the hydraulic conductivity (m/day)
x is the distance from the origion(m)
1 h is the head at the origin(m)
2 h is the head at L (m)
L is the distance from the origin at the point 2 h
is measured (m)
w is the recharge rate (m/day)

Water level maps

Maps of the water table for an unconfined aquifer or of the potentiometric
surface of a confined aquifer are basic tools of hydrogeologic
interpretation.
These maps are two-dimensional representations of three dimensional
view of the surface.

Flow lines and flow nets

Isotropic and
anisotropic aquifer

The method of flow-net construction presented here is

based on the following assumptions:
1 The aquifer is homogeneous.
2 The aquifer is fully saturated.
3 The aquifer is isotropic.
4 There is no change in the potential field with time.
5 The soil and water are incompressible.
6 Flow is laminar, and Darcys law is valid.
7 All boundary conditions are known.

The following steps are followed in the construction of a flow net:

1. Identify the boundary conditions.

2. Make a sketch of the boundaries with the two axes of the drawing having
the same scale.

3. Identify the position of known equipotential and flow-line conditions.

4. Draw a trial set of flow lines. The outer flow lines will be parallel to noflow boundaries.
5. The distance between adjacent flow lines should be the same at all
sections of the flow field.

5. Draw a trial set of equipotential lines. Start at one end of the flow field
and work toward the other. The equipotential lines should be perpendicular
to flow lines.

In addition to presenting a graphic display of the groundwater flow

direction and potential distribution, the completed flow net can be used to
determine the quantity of water flowing by the following formula:

mKH
q
x width
n
Where, Q is the total volume discharge.
K is the hydraulic conductivity
m is the number of streamlines
n is the number of equipotential lines

Flow nets
As we have seen, to work with the groundwater flow equation in any meaningful
way, we have to find some kind of a solution to the equation. This solution is based
on boundary conditions, and in the transient case, on initial conditions.

Isotropic,
homogeneous
conditions

Flow Nets in Anisotropic,

Homogeneous Systems:
In an anisotropic medium, perform the following steps in constructing a flow net:

1. Transform the system (the area where a flow net is desired) by the following ratio:
Z Z'

Kz
Kx

where z is the original vertical dimension of the system (on your page, in cm, inches, etc.) and Z is the
transformed vertical dimension.
Kx is the hydraulic conductivity horizontally on your page, and Kz is the hydraulic conductivity vertically on
your page. This transformation is not specific to the xdimension or the y-dimension.

2. On the transformed system, follow the exact same principles for flow nets as
outlined for a homogeneous, isotropic system.
3. Perform the inverse transform on the system
4. If any flow calculations are needed, do these calculations on the homogeneous
(step 2) section. Use the following for hydraulic conductivity:

K ' = Kx Kz

Flow Nets in Heterogeneous Systems:

In a layered system, the same rules apply as in a homogeneous system, with the
following important exceptions:

1. Curvilinear squares can only be drawn in ONE layer. In other words, in a two layer
system, you will only have curvilinear squares in one of the layers. Which layer to
draw squares in is your choice: in general you should choose the thicker/larger layer.
2. At boundaries between layers, flow lines are refracted (in a similar way to the
way light is refracted between two different media).

K2

tan 1
K1

2 tan 1

Groundwater Flow Patterns in Homogeneous Aquifers

Groundwater-Lake Interactions

Pattern of groundwater flow

Flow in relation to
Groundwater Contours
Step 1
Identify the well with the
intermediate water level
Step 2
Along the straight line between the
wells with the highest head and the
lowest head, identify the location of
the same head of the well from step 1.

Step 3
Draw a straight line between the intermediate well from step 1 and the point
identified in step 2.
Step 4
Draw a line perpendicular to the equipotential line passing through the well
with the lowest head.

Ex..
Three observation wells are installed to
determine the direction of groundwater
movement and the hydraulic gradient in a
regional aquifer. The distance between
the wells and the total head at
each well as shown below

THANK YOU