93-482

Hydrogeological Engineering
Properties of Aquifers
Summer 2012

What do Hydrogeologists do?

Prepares plans for development of a groundwater supply
Locates and develops a source of groundwater
Determines if there is enough water of acceptable quality available

Groundwater Control
To lower water levels, prepares dewater plan (where, how much etc)
Evaluates impact of a mine dewatering plan on overlying surfacewater bodies

Aquifer protection and water conservation

Significant groundwater recharge area delineation to prohibit
activities that pose threat to groundwater quality

Determines capture zones for a well field to protect it from

contamination
Delineates plume of contaminated groundwater
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Hydrogeologists.
Need training in geology, hydrology, chemistry,
mathematics, physics, fluid mechanics and flow through
porous media
For a typical project..
Gather all available information about the areas hydrogeology,
such as well logs, published geological and water supply reports
Map or obtain geological maps and examine air photos
Develops an idea of where to locate a test well, which will be used
to conduct aquifer tests to determine the hydraulic properties
Determine if there is enough water of acceptable quality available
Identify if one well or well field is needed to develop the
groundwater either for supply or dewatering.
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Learning Outcomes
If completed correctly, you will be able to
Identify various properties that affect the groundwater flow
apply Darcys law
estimate hydraulic conductivity
draw water table and potentiometric surfaces, and
determine flow gradients
Associate/identify various aquifer properties (such as
specific storage, specific yield, storativity, transmissivity)
corresponding to confined or unconfined aquifers

Basic Properties of Media and Fluid

Media Porosity (n), permeability (k) and
compressibility ()

Fluid Density (), dynamic viscosity () and

Compressibility (w)
Others are derived.
Hydraulic Conductivity (K), Specific Storage (Ss);
Transmissivity (T) and Storativity (S) in confined
aquifers; Hydraulic Conductivity (K) and specific yield
(Sy) in unconfined aquifers etc.

Physical Properties and Principles

Porosity void volume/total volume
Effective porosity amount of interconnected
pore space available for fluid flow
Permeability Ease with which fluid can move
through a porous rock
Types of Pore
Spaces

Todd and Mays (2005)

Specific Yield
Storativity in case of unconfined
aquifer is Specific Yield

Specific Yield (Sy) : Ratio of the

volume of water that drains by
gravity to the total volume of rock
Specific Retention (Sr): Ratio of
the volume of water the rock
retains against force of gravity to
the total volume of rock
Total porosity = Sy+ Sr+ ratio of volume of water contained in
the unconnected pore space to the total volume
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Fluid Potential
Groundwater moves in the direction of decreasing potential
Candidate potentials
Gravitational (or potential energy)
Pressure
Kinetic Energy
Others (Thermal, Electrical, Osmotic -chemical)
Hydraulic Head (h) is a potential the driving force for
groundwater flow
Potential is the energy (or work) expended against a
force field to move a unit mass of material from a
reference point, or condition, to the point of interest

Total Potential
z

Work mg dz F .distance

Gravitational potential
Work Energy = (work/mass)

zo
z
L2
1
g mg dz gz 2
m zo
T

potential for unit mass

Pressure Potential (p)

p

1
V
p Vdp dp
m po
m
po

Kinetic Potential

po

dpV

p po

Wk 1 mv2 v 2

k

m m 2 2
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Total Potential
g

p po v 2
p k gz

Bernoullis Equation Flow along a stream line

Simplify for groundwater, v is very small so the kinetic potential
term will be negligible

p po
gz

Total head or Hydraulic Head = Datum head + pressure head

h=z+
Z = elevation of point of measurement or elevation or datum head
= pressure head or height of column of water above
measurement point
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Concept of Head and Pressure

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Fluid Motion and Darcys Law

Henri Darcy (1856) beginning
of science of groundwater

hA
hB

Described an experiment
iIlustrating the controls on water
movement through a column of
sand

Q hA hB and Q (1 / L)
hL
hA hB
Q KA KA
l
L

dh
Q KA
dl
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Hydraulic
Gradient

Darcys Law
hL
h h
Q
h
q K
Ki
KA A B
A
l
l
L
By convention Darcys Law is stated as
q = specific discharge (Darcys flux); units : (L3/T)/L2 = L/T
Q KA

Do Not Confuse with Velocity

q is the volume of water flowing through a unit time
is the volume of averaged flux. Hence, historically referred
to as Darcy Flux
It makes an attempt to describe microscopic behaviour with
macroscopic parameters
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Validity of Darcys Law

Limits:
Macroscopic representation of flow
Upper and lower limits of flow rates

Macroscopic Behaviour
It is assumed that a porous medium
can be sampled to obtain measurements
on a Representative Elementary Volume (REV)
Three conditions apply
A representative CONTINUUM can be selected to characterize
the ensemble of individual grains
The Continuum is MACROSCOPIC
There is a lower limit to the size of the element for which Darcys
law is valid. The lower limit of the volume is the REV.
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Validity of Darcys Law

Upper and lower limits of Flow
Laminar
Linear
q

q
Turbulent
Non-linear

h/ l

h/ l

Low permeability materials

may have a threshold
hydraulic gradient below
which flow does not occur.

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Validity of Darcys Law

Darcys law is valid only for laminar flow in porous media
Reynolds number is defined as

Re = (VD)/

where = fluid density,

v = average linear velocity (q/n)
D= effective grain size (d10)
= fluid viscosity

Re < 1 (sometimes the range of 1 to 10 is given)

Ratio of inertial forces to viscous forces
Where do you think Darcys law is not valid?
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Hydraulic Conductivity
K

q L /T

L /T
h L / L
l

a measure of the ease with which a specific fluid (H2O) will

pass through a particular porous medium
Depends on both (i) fluid and (ii) medium
An empirical factor which is the average of the microscopic
effects to describe macroscopic behaviour
Assumes that there is a representative continuum for the
porous medium
Note: Darcys law is EMPIRICAL. This assumption may not
always hold. But most real world situations it holds good.
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Physical interpretation of K
Darcys proportionality coefficient or hydraulic
conductivity is
2

d
K w
K K* w
K 1/

K d2

K wd
*

N w gd

grad h
2

k w g

N w gR

grad h

k = intrinsic permeability
(Darcy)
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Hydraulic Conductivity vs. Permeability

K

q L /T

L /T
h L / L
l

3
2
g
M
/
L
*
L
/
T
L2
K k
L /T
M / LT

K = upper case Hydraulic conductivity (groundwater

terminology)
k = lower case Permeability (from petroleum
terminology) or intrinsic permeability

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Estimation/Determination of K
Grain size techniques
Simple, good for sands and silts and not for clays
Based on standard grain size analysis

Permeameter tests Laboratory

Constant head and Falling head methods

In-situ Single well tests (field)

Slug/Bail tests
constant head
Packer/pressure-pulse tests

Pumping tests (field)

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Estimation/Determination of K
Permeameter tests Laboratory
Constant head and Falling head methods
Constant Head

KAt (hA hB )
Qt
L
QtL
VL
K

At (hA hB )
Ath

ho
h

Falling Head

d t2 L ho
K 2 ln
dc t h
dt=diameter of tube = 2rt
dc=diameter of soil chamber = 2rc
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SLUG TEST

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Heterogeneity and Anisotropy of K

In field situations, K varies through space and
with the direction of measurement in porous
medium
Homogeneity vs Heterogeneity
Isotropic vs Anisotropic
Causes of Heterogeneity
Layering, Discontinuities (i.e.,faults, folds, etc.)
Spatial trends Depositional trends
joint and fracture spacing (ie., distance from igneous
intrusion
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Causes of Anisotropy
Layering, Discontinuities (i.e.,faults, folds, etc.)
Local grain orientation
Fracture orientation (rocks +clays) (local and
regional)

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Heterogeneity and Anisotropy of K

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Equivalent Hydraulic Conductivity

Assume Layered system

Kx

dK

d
i

d1

K1

d2

K2

d3

K3

d4

K4

Kz

d
K

i
i
i

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Flow gradients and directions

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Water Table and Potentiometric Maps

These are 2D representation of 3D surfaces
Unconfined aquifers Water table surface
Confined aquifers Potentiometric surface
Need water level readings made in a number of wells,
each of which is open only in the aquifer of interest

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Piezometers
Water levels in piezometers give
mean pressure head at
sampling (usually slotted zone of
pipe/porous interval)
When tied to a datum (e.g.,
mean sea level) gives total head
h
Need more than one
piezometers to determine
gradients (i.e., h/L)

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Types of Piezometer
Simplest Open type/slotted screen
(Big Straw!!!)
Can physically measure water levels
Can obtain water samples for chemistry)
Simple to install, cheap, reliable and durable
Other types
Closed hydraulic, pneumatic, vibrating wire,
strain gauge (pressure transducer), etc.

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Aquifer Characteristics
Specific Storage (Ss) - Also called elastic storage coefficient

proportionality constant relating the volumetric changes in fluid volume

per unit volume to the time rate of change in hydraulic head
Ss = wg ( + n )
Expansion of water

compression of porous medium

and are compressibility of pore structure and water

Unconfined Aquifer: The amount of water obtained per unit volume

drained is substantial and is equal to the volume of pore space actually
drained.

Confined Aquifer: a drop in head is not accompanied by drainage from

storage as the aquifer remains fully saturated at all times
Amount of water obtained in response to unit head drop is small fraction
of that obtained in case of unconfined aquifer

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Aquifer Characteristics

Concept of storativity in unconfined and confined

aquifers (Heath, 1982)

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Storage Properties
How confined aquifers take
additional water in response to
increase in head?
Water and porous structure
are elastically compressible.
Changes in head leads to
changes in both water and
pore volume
The interstitial pore space of
the sandstone was reduced
to the extent of the
unaccountable volumetric
withdrawals from storage.

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Storativity or Storage Coefficient

For confined aquifers only
Volume of water that an aquifer releases
from or takes into storage per unit surface
area of aquifer per unit change in the
component of head normal to that surface
0.00005 < S < 0.005

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Transmissivity
Rate at which water is transmitted through a unit width of
aquifer under a unit hydraulic gradient
T = K b where b= saturated thickness of the aquifer
The concept is applicable only in case of Confined
aquifer
where as in unconfined aquifers, b changes as the
pumping starts. Hence, the working parameter is K

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Stress
T e PP
Total stress due to the weight
of solids and water (T) is
supported by solid
framework (e) and pore
water (Pp).
Relation between e to h and
e = -P where P = g e = -g
When the reference point is fixed, ie., doesnt change,
e = -gh because z = 0
Change in head h causes changes in e and deformation of porous medium.
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Compressibility
A material property relating the change in volume (per
unit volume to applied stress)

db / b db / b

d e
dP

compressibility of porous medium; db change in

aquifer thickness; b original aquifer thickness, de
change in effective stress
Inverse of modulus of elasticity
Volume change can occur with change in hydraulic head
in three ways
Expansion of water (P)
db by compression of grains
db by compression of medium (consolidation)
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Topics Covered Today

Basic Material Properties of Media and Fluid

Fluid Potential and Hydraulic Head
Darcys Law
Hydraulic Conductivity and Estimation methods
Concept of Heterogeneity and Anistropy
Equivalent K in case of layered soils
Water Table and Potentiometric surfaces, flow gradients
Aquifer Properties
Specific Storage, Specific Yield, Storativity,
Transmissivity and Stress

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