BASIC SUBSURFACE FLOW
permeable rock units that are
Law of Darcy
- Darcy's law states the principle which
governs the movement of fluid in a given
substance.
- Darcy’s law equation describes the
capability of the liquid to flow via any
porous media like a rock.
- The law is based on the fact according to
which, the flow between two points is
directly proportional to the pressure
differences between the points, the
distance, and the connectivity of flow
within rocks between the points.
Application of Darcy Law
• One application of Darcy's law is to flow
water through an aquifer.
• Darcy's law with the conservation of
mass equation is equivalent to the
groundwater flow equation, being one of
the basic relationships of hydrology.
• Darcy's law is also applied to describe
oil, gas, and waterflows through
petroleum reservoirs.
GROUNDWATER FLOW IN CONFINED
AND UNCONFINED AQUIFER
- If there is a homogeneous porous
formation extending from the ground
surface up to an impervious bed
underneath, rainwater percolating down
in the soil saturates the formation and
builds up the groundwater table (GWT).
o This aquifer underwater table
conditions is called an
unconfined aquifer (water-table
aquifer) and well drilled into this
aquifer is called water table well
 Confined Aquifers - Are
usually deeper under the ground
than unconfined aquifers. They
are overlain by relatively
impermeable rock or clay that
limits groundwater movement
into, in or out of, the confined
aquifer.
 Unconfined Aquifer - Is where
the groundwater is in direct
contact with the atmosphere
through the open pore spaces of
the overlaying soil or rock, then
the aquifer is said to be
unconfined. The upper
groundwater surface in an
unconfined aquifer is called the
water table
RADIAL FLOW TO A WELL
- groundwater resources in a confined
aquifer with a nonsteady-state flow can
be evaluated for the consideration of the
construction of wells.
- A confined aquifer is a primary source for
well tapping and is defined to be an
aquifer bonded by an upper and lower
bed of material that allows only small
amounts of groundwater to penetrate
through.
- A non-steady state flow is a flow in which
the velocity changes direction or
magnitude at some point in time.
Equation 2 is the diffusion equation.
RADIAL WATER FLOW IN UNCONFINED
AQUIFER
• An aquifer that does not have a confining
layer between it and the ground surface.
 2 types of flow in radial unconfined
aquifer:
* Steady Flow
* Unsteady Flow
TRAVEL TIME OF GROUND IN CONFINED
- The time interval between recharge and
discharge points is defined as the travel
time groundwater flow.
Time travel is used in several applications
such as;
 Designing Exploitation
DeMsIA  Monitoring Systems
 Identifying Areas Affected by
contaminant migration
 Assessing the potential for natural
attenuation of pollutants.