Water Resources Engineering (CEB-703)

Groundwater Hydrology
Lecture 5
 CEB-703 – Lecture 5

Groundwater: Basic Concepts

Groundwater: water enters the zone of saturation

Zones:
• Aeration zone (unsaturated zone)
• Saturation zone

2
 CEB-703 – Lecture 5

Groundwater: Basic Concepts

• Flow in underground formations depends

on the slope of the water table (ground
water flow in an unconfined aquifer), or
the piezometric surface, in a confined
aquifer

3
 CEB-703 – Lecture 5

Groundwater: Basic Concepts

• Zone of aeration can be further divided
into three subzones:
o root zone extends from the ground
surface to the bottom of the root
systems (saturated only for brief
periods following substantial rain)
o intermediate zone extends from the
bottom of the root zone to the top of
the capillary zone (water moves under
gravitational forces)
o capillary zone where water is under
capillary forces control of the water
content
4
 CEB-703 – Lecture 5

Groundwater: Basic Concepts

• In the zone of saturation, water occupies all of the
pore space and is under hydrostatic pressure
(groundwater)
o Upper edge of the zone of saturation is water table
(atmospheric pressure)
o Hydrostatic pressure increases with depth below the
water table

5
 CEB-703 – Lecture 5

Groundwater: Basic Concepts

• Categories of zone of saturation:
o Aquifer
o Aquiclude
o Aquifuge
o Aquitard

6
 CEB-703 – Lecture 5

Groundwater: Basic Concepts

• Categories of zone of saturation:
o Aquifer
- An aquifer is a layer of porous substrate that
contains and transmits groundwater
- An aquifer is an underground layer of water-bearing
permeable rock or unconsolidated materials (gravel,
sand, or silt) from which groundwater can be
extracted using a water well
- Aquifers may occur at various depths

7
 CEB-703 – Lecture 5

Groundwater: Basic Concepts

• Categories of zone of saturation:
o Aquifer
✓ Unconfined aquifer is a permeable underground
formation having a surface at atmospheric pressure
(water table as its upper layer)
✓ Confined or artisan aquifers are formed where an
impermeable layer creates a confined groundwater
storage area

8
 CEB-703 – Lecture 5

Groundwater: Basic Concepts

• Categories of zone of saturation:
o Aquifer
i) Porosity
ii) Specific yield
iii) Specific retention
iv) Storage by efficiency (field capacity)
v) Permeability
vi) Transmissivity

9
 CEB-703 – Lecture 5

Groundwater: Basic Concepts

• Categories of zone of saturation:
o Aquifer
i) Porosity
- void fraction is a measure of the void spaces in a material
(fraction of the volume of voids over the total volume,
between 0–1, or 0–100%)
- Soil types with high porosity include coarse-grained soils
such as sand, gravel, and cobbles
- When an aquifer has high porosity, it can hold more water,
and water can move through it more easily - aquifer can
store and transmit more water, making it a better source of
groundwater
10
 CEB-703 – Lecture 5

Groundwater: Basic Concepts

• Categories of zone of saturation:
o Aquifer
ii) Specific yield
- Quantity of water which a unit volume of aquifer, after
being saturated, will yield by gravity
- It is a fraction of the total porosity of the aquifer that is
available for water storage and transmission
- It is a measure of the water available to wells for pumping

11
 CEB-703 – Lecture 5

Groundwater: Basic Concepts

• Categories of zone of saturation:
o Aquifer
iii) Field capacity
- amount of soil moisture or water content held in
soil after excess water has drained away (bulk water
content retained in soil)
- Indirectly affects aquifer through which the soil
above it will provide recharge to the aquifer

12
 CEB-703 – Lecture 5

Groundwater: Basic Concepts

• Categories of zone of saturation:
o Aquifer
iv) Specific retention
- Ratio of the volume of water that a given body of
rock or soil will hold against the pull of gravity to
the volume of the body itself (usually expressed as
a percentage)
- It gives the water storage capacity of the
unsaturated zone and its ability to contribute to
groundwater recharge
13
 CEB-703 – Lecture 5

Groundwater: Basic Concepts

• Categories of zone of saturation:
o Aquifer
v) Permeability - affects how quickly water can flow
through the soil (ability of water to flow through a soil)

14
 CEB-703 – Lecture 5

Groundwater: Basic Concepts

• Categories of zone of saturation:
o Aquifer
vi) Transmissivity - determine the water that an aquifer
can deliver to a pumping well (depends upon the
depth of the groundwater table for unconfined
aquifer)

15
 CEB-703 – Lecture 5

Groundwater: Basic Concepts

• Categories of zone of saturation:
o Aquifer
- Porosity is related to the specific yield and specific
retention of the aquifer, as both of these properties
are measures of the amount of water that can be
stored in the pore space of the aquifer
- Transmissivity is related to permeability, as it is a
function of the hydraulic conductivity and thickness
of the aquifer. It is also related to specific yield and
storage efficiency, as these properties affect the
amount of water that can be stored and transmitted
through the aquifer 16
 CEB-703 – Lecture 5

Groundwater: Basic Concepts

• Categories of zone of saturation:
o Aquifer
i) Porosity
ii) Specific yield
iii) Specific retention
iv) Storage by efficiency (field capacity)
v) Permeability
vi) Transmissivity
Overall, these factors are interconnected and interdependent, and
understanding their relationships is critical for characterizing and
managing aquifer systems.
17
 CEB-703 – Lecture 5

Groundwater: Basic Concepts

18
 CEB-703 – Lecture 5

Groundwater: Basic Concepts

• Wells drilled into confined

aquifers are called artisan
wells
o The water will rise in the
well to a level that defines
the piezometric surface
o If the piezometric surface is
above the ground level,
water will flow freely from
the well
19
 CEB-703 – Lecture 5

Groundwater: Basic Concepts

• Soil column: composition

of soil pores in aeration
zone has air and water
(soil moisture or
suspended water or
vadose water); while in
saturated zone the pore
space is occupied by
water

20
 CEB-703 – Lecture 5

Groundwater: Darcy’s Law

• Darcy's law describes the rate at which

groundwater flows through a porous medium, such
as an aquifer
• Assumptions: steady-state flow, homogeneous, and
isotropic, and porous medium is saturated with
water
• Basis for estimating the flow of groundwater
through an aquifer

21
 CEB-703 – Lecture 5

Groundwater: Darcy’s Law

• Water moves from
the section from
higher to lower
total energy
• Headloss (hL) is the
difference between
the two energy
grade lines (EGL)
• Water elevations in
the standpipes is
the hydraulic grade
line (HGL)
22
 CEB-703 – Lecture 5

Groundwater: Darcy’s Law

• Direct relationship
between Q and hL
• Inverse relationship
between Q and L

𝑄 = hL/L
ratio hL /L = slope of
HGL and denoted as
hydraulic gradient (i)

23
 CEB-703 – Lecture 5

Groundwater: Darcy’s Law

• Direct relationship between Q and hL

• Inverse relationship between Q and L
• Direct relationship between Q and A

K as the proportionality constant

Actual velocity would be
• Thus: larger because the actual
area of the pores would be
smaller by about 50%.
24
 CEB-703 – Lecture 5

Groundwater: Darcy’s Law

• Darcy’s Law: Reynold's numbers less than 1, which

covers almost all cases of flow in natural porous
media
• Reynold's Number (R), which is the ratio of the inertia
forces to the viscous forces, is given by:

𝜌 is the mass density of the fluid, 𝜇 is the absolute or

dynamic viscosity of the fluid, 𝑣 is the kinematic viscosity, V
is the flow velocity, and L is a characteristic length
25
 CEB-703 – Lecture 5

Groundwater: Darcy’s Law

• Hydraulic Conductivity (K)
- reflects the velocity of flow through the porous medium
- proportionality constant K is called either the hydraulic
conductivity or the coefficient of permeability

- function of both the water (𝛾 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝜇) and the medium (diameter)

- using a separate term and is called the specific permeability, k:

26
 CEB-703 – Lecture 5

Groundwater: Darcy’s Law

• Hydraulic Conductivity (K)

specific permeability k, it is usually expressed in darcy:

1 darcy = 1.062 x 10-11 ft2
27
 CEB-703 – Lecture 5

Groundwater: Darcy’s Law

28
 CEB-703 – Lecture 5

Groundwater: Darcy’s Law

• Hydraulic Conductivity (K): Example
A pump is discharging 70 gal/min from a well in a sandy
aquifer. Two observation wells located in a radial line
from the pumping well have a 1-ft difference in the water
surface elevations; the two observation wells are 50 ft
apart. At the observation well closer to the pumping well
(distance of 300 ft), the depth from the water table to
bedrock is 80 ft. Determine the hydraulic conductivity K
and the specific permeability, k. Assume 𝛾 = 62.41
lb/ft3 and 𝜇 = 2.735 X 10-5 lb-sec/ft2.

29
 CEB-703 – Lecture 5

Groundwater: Darcy’s Law

• Hydraulic Conductivity (K): Example
- hydraulic gradient (two obs wells), i:
hL/L = 1/50 = 0.02 or 2%
- Area through which the 70 gal/min passes at a (radial)
distance of 300 ft from the pumping well (A) is:
2𝜋rb = 2 𝜋(300)(80) = 150,796.45 ft2
- hydraulic conductivity of the aquifer is:

30
 CEB-703 – Lecture 5

Groundwater: Darcy’s Law

• Hydraulic Conductivity (K): Example

1 darcy equals 1.062 x 10-11 ft2

31
 CEB-703 – Lecture 5

Groundwater: Darcy’s Law

• Hydraulic Conductivity (K): Example
Assume that a soil analysis indicates a hydraulic
conductivity of 0.0007 ft/sec. Two observation wells
located 75 ft apart and in line with the flow have water
surface elevations that differ by 2.2 ft. The geologic
formation has a depth of 60 ft and a width of 540 ft.
The flow through the cross section is:

32
 CEB-703 – Lecture 5

Groundwater: Darcy’s Law

• Ground Water Velocities

33
 CEB-703 – Lecture 5
Groundwater: Darcy’s Law
• Ground Water Velocities (example):
Confined aquifer that is 2.4 mi wide and 65 ft thick. The
hydraulic conductivity for the sandy soil is 0.035 ft/sec, and the
porosity is 0.35. The water surface elevation in two observation
wells, which are located 800 ft apart is 7.2 ft. How much water
will be transmitted through the cross section of the aquifer and
what is the travel time of the water from the recharge point to
the farthest well?

34
 CEB-703 – Lecture 5

Groundwater: Darcy’s Law

• Ground Water Velocities (example):
o hydraulic gradient (i) = 0.009 ft/ft

35
 CEB-703 – Lecture 5

Groundwater: Darcy’s Law

• Ground Water Velocities (example):

36
 CEB-703 – Lecture 5

Groundwater: HYDRAULICS OF WELLS (STEADY STATE)

• Darcy's Law is a simple relationship that is used to
represent flow in a complex physical system in
describing flow from an aquifer to a well
• When the pump in the well is started, the pressure
around the intake of the pump is reduced, which
creates a pressure difference between the water in
the surrounding aquifer and the pump intake
• The water in the aquifer then begins movement to the
pump intake where the pressure is lower
• This causes the level of water in the aquifer to
decrease from its initial horizontal position
37
 CEB-703 – Lecture 5

Groundwater: HYDRAULICS OF WELLS (STEADY STATE)

• Initially, unsteady flow
conditions will exist
• The water level will
continue to decrease
and at some point in
time, the drawdown in
the well will cease and
steady-state conditions
will exist
• Water level in the aquifer
is called the cone of
depression 38
 CEB-703 – Lecture 5

Groundwater: HYDRAULICS OF WELLS (STEADY STATE)

• With 2𝜋rbK constant, we get

iiri = ioro
Since ro>ri, then io<ii
• This means that as the
distance from the center of the
well decreases (r), the hydraulic
gradient (i) increases

39
 CEB-703 – Lecture 5

Groundwater: HYDRAULICS OF WELLS (STEADY STATE)

• Unidirectional Flow in Confined and Unconfined
Aquifer
• Radial Flow in Confined and Unconfined Aquifer

40
 CEB-703 – Lecture 5

Groundwater: HYDRAULICS OF WELLS (STEADY STATE)

• Unidirectional Flow: Confined Aquifer

41
 CEB-703 – Lecture 5

Groundwater: HYDRAULICS OF WELLS (STEADY STATE)

• Unidirectional Flow: Confined Aquifer (Example):
Consider the case of an aquifer with a depth of 12 ft
and a hydraulic conductivity of 125,000 ft/yr. If
measurements at two observation wells 2500 ft apart
indicate a drop in the piezometric surface of 8 ft, then
the velocity is:

42
 CEB-703 – Lecture 5

Groundwater: HYDRAULICS OF WELLS (STEADY STATE)

• Unidirectional Flow: Unconfined Aquifer

43
 CEB-703 – Lecture 5

Groundwater: HYDRAULICS OF WELLS (STEADY STATE)

• Unidirectional Flow: Unconfined Aquifer (Example)
Consider the case where measurements of ho and hi of
9 and 6 ft, respectively, are made when the two water
bodies are 1500 ft apart. A laboratory test of soil
samples indicates that K is 0.0027 ft/sec. Therefore,
the steady-state flow rate is:

where the minus sign indicates the direction of flow.

44
 CEB-703 – Lecture 5

Groundwater: HYDRAULICS OF WELLS (STEADY STATE)

• Radial Flow: Confined Aquifer

Assumptions:
1. The well completely penetrates the infinite, confined
aquifer
2. The flow is two-dimensional
3. The aquifer is homogeneous and isotropic
4. The flow is laminar
5. The flow is horizontal
45
 CEB-703 – Lecture 5

Groundwater: HYDRAULICS OF WELLS (STEADY STATE)

• Radial Flow: Confined Aquifer (Example)

Consider the case of a well that penetrates a confined aquifer

that has a depth of 20 ft and a hydraulic conductivity of 0.0032
ft/sec. Two observation wells are located at 1000 ft and 2700
ft, with water surface elevations of 2.8 and 4.2 ft, respectively.

46
 CEB-703 – Lecture 5

Groundwater: HYDRAULICS OF WELLS (STEADY STATE)

• Radial Flow: Unconfined Aquifer

At the well, which has a radius rw, the height of the water is hw.

Assumptions:
1. The well completely penetrates the aquifer
2. The aquifer is homogeneous and isotropic
3. The flow is steady and laminar
4. The flow is horizontal
47
 CEB-703 – Lecture 5

Groundwater: HYDRAULICS OF WELLS (STEADY STATE)

• Radial Flow: Unconfined Aquifer (Example)

To illustrate, for estimating the sustainable flow rate, assume

that an aquifer has a K of 0.004 f/sec. If the depths of the
water surface in the well being pumped (rw = 2 in.) and an
observation well (located 750 ft from the well) are 8 ft and 10.3
ft, respectively. The flow rate is:

48
 CEB-703 – Lecture 5

Groundwater: HYDRAULICS OF WELLS (STEADY STATE)

• To determine whether groundwater flow is straight or
radial, you need to consider the hydrogeological
setting of the aquifer and the location of the water
supply wells or discharge points
o Unidirectional flow - if the well or discharge point
is located in the direction of the groundwater flow
(unconfined) or in the direction of the hydraulic
gradient using the difference in water level
between two observation wells (confined)
o Radial Flow: well or discharge point is located at
the center of the confined aquifer
49
 CEB-703 – Lecture 5

Groundwater: HYDRAULICS OF WELLS (STEADY STATE)

• It is generally a good practice to compute both
unidirectional and radial flow scenarios to evaluate
the potential impacts of groundwater withdrawal or
recharge on the aquifer system
• This will help in designing an effective and
sustainable groundwater management plan

50
 CEB-703 – Lecture 5

Groundwater: HYDRAULICS OF WELLS (UNSTEADY

STATE)
• Before installing a permanent facility for pumping
water from an aquifer it is practical to obtain
estimates of important characteristics of the aquifer
• These will be useful in evaluating the yield that can
be sustained once a steady-state pumping rate is
achieved
• Significant changes in the hydraulic properties of the
aquifer surrounding the well, such as changes in the
recharge rate, pumping from nearby wells, or
changes in the water table elevation
51
 CEB-703 – Lecture 5

Groundwater: HYDRAULICS OF WELLS (UNSTEADY

STATE)
• Characteristics of interest are the transmissivity (T)
and the storativity (S)
• The storativity, which is dimensionless, equals the
product of the thickness (d) of the aquifer and the
specific storage (Ss):

• Methods to estimate T and S: Theis Method and

Jacob's Straight-Line Method

52