Lecture 6

Unsteady Groundwater Flow

By:
Prof. Ahmed Ali A. Hassan
Dr. Peter Hany Sobhy Riad
 Syllabus
Hydrologic cycle and water resources in
Egypt
Soil- water relationships and Occurrence of groundwater

Groundwater balance and Artificial recharge

Groundwater exploration methods

Ground water flow [(1-D and 2-D) and (radial flow towards wells)]

Special cases of radial flow

Design of wells
Construction and maintenance of wells

Pumping tests and well evaluation

groundwater modeling software
 Summary
• Steady flow
– to a well in a confined aquifer
– to a well in an unconfined aquifer
• Unsteady flow
– to a well in a confined aquifer
• Theis method
• Jacob method
– to a well in a leaky aquifer
– to a well in an unconfined aquifer
Unsteady Flow to Wells in
Confined Aquifers
 Dupuit Assumptions
• The flow in the aquifer is adequately described
by Darcy's law (i.e. Re<10).
• homogeneous, isotropic, confined aquifer,
• well is fully penetrating (open to the entire
thickness (b) of aquifer),
• the well has zero radius (it is approximated as a
vertical line) — therefore no water can be stored
in the well,
• the well has a constant pumping rate Q,
Jules Dupuit
• the head loss over the well screen is negligible,
Born 18 May 1804
• aquifer is infinite in radial extent, Fossano, Italy
• horizontal (not sloping), flat, impermeable (non-
Died 5 September
leaky) top and bottom boundaries of aquifer,
1866
• groundwater flow is horizontal Paris
• no other wells or long term changes in regional
Nationality French
water levels (all changes in potentiometric surface
are the result of the pumping well alone)
Unsteady Flow to a Well in a Confined Aquifer

Unsteady Flow to a Well in a Confined Aquifer

• Continuity
Q
Ground surface

• Drawdown
Pumping
well

• Theis equation (1935) Confining Layer

h0 r
b
h(r)
Confined Q
aquifer

• Well function Bedrock

∞
e −u
W (u ) = ∫ du
u
u
Unsteady Flow to a Well in a Confined Aquifer

Well Function

U vs W(u) 1/u vs W(u)

∞ −u
W (u ) = ∫ du
e r2S
u=
u
u 4Tt
Unsteady Flow to a Well in a Confined Aquifer

Example - Theis Equation

Q
Ground surface

Q = 1500 m3/day Pumping

T = 600 m2/day well

S = 4 x 10-4
Confining Layer

Find: Drawdown 1 km from

r1
b
h1
well after 1 year Confined
aquifer
Q

Bedrock
Well Function
Unsteady Flow to a Well in a Confined Aquifer

Follow Example - Theis Equation

Q = 1500 m3/day Q

T = 600 m2/day Ground surface

S = 4 x 10-4 Pumping
well

Find: Drawdown 1 km
from well after 1 Confining Layer
year
r1
b
h1
Confined Q
aquifer

Bedrock
Pump Test in Confined Aquifers
Theis Method
 Pump Test Analysis – Theis Method
Q
Ground surface

Pumpin
g well

constants Confining Layer

r2S
u= b
r1

4Tt h1
Confin Q
ed
aquifer

Bedrock

• Q/4πT and 4T/S are constant

• Relationship between
– s and r2/t is similar to the relationship between W(u) and u
– So if we make 2 plots: W(u) vs u, and s vs r2/t
– We can estimate the constants T, and S
Pump Test Analysis – Theis Method

Example - Theis Method

Q

• Pumping test in a sandy aquifer Ground surface

• Original water level = 20 m above Pumping

mean sea level (amsl) well

• Q = 1000 m3/hr
Confining Layer
• Observation well = 1000 m from
h0 = 20 m
pumping well b h1

• Find: S and T Confined

aquifer
r1 = 1000 m

Bedrock

Bear, J., Hydraulics of Groundwater, Problem 11-4, pp 539-540, McGraw-Hill, 1979.

Pump Test Analysis – Theis Method

Theis Method
Water level, Drawdown,
Time h(1000) s(1000)
min m m
0 20.00 0.00
3 19.92 0.08
4 19.85 0.15
5 19.78 0.22
6 19.70 0.30
7 19.64 0.36
8 19.57 0.43
10 19.45 0.55
…
60 18.00 2.00
70 17.87 2.13
…
100 17.50 2.50
…
1000 15.25 4.75
…
4000 13.80 6.20
Pump Test Analysis – Theis Method

Theis Method
r2/t s u W(u)
Time r2/t s u W(u)
s
(min) (m2/min) (m) s vs r2/t
0 0.00 1.0E-04 8.63
3 333333 0.08 2.0E-04 7.94
4 250000 0.15 3.0E-04 7.53
5 200000 0.22 4.0E-04 7.25
6 166667 0.30 5.0E-04 7.02 r2/t
7 142857 0.36 6.0E-04 6.84
8 125000 0.43 7.0E-04 6.69
10 100000 0.55 8.0E-04 6.55
…
3000 333 5.85 8.0E-01 0.31
4000 250 6.20 9.0E-01 0.26
W(u) W(u) vs u

u
Pump Test Analysis – Theis Method
Theis Method
r 2/t
10 100 1000 10000 100000 1000000
10 10

1 1

W(u)
Match Point
s

W(u) = 1, u = 0.10
s = 1, r2/t = 20000
0.1 0.1

0.01 0.01
0.0001 0.0010 0.0100 0.1000 1.0000 10.0000

u
Pump Test Analysis – Theis Method

Theis Method
• Match Point
• W(u) = 1, u = 0.10
• s = 1, r2/t = 20000
Pump Test in Confined Aquifers
Jacob Method (1946)
Pump Test Analysis – Jacob Method

Jacob Approximation
• Drawdown, s

• Well Function, W(u) ∞

W (u ) = ∫
e −u u2
du ≈ −0.5772 − ln(u ) + u − + 
u
u 2!

• Series approximation
of W(u)

• Approximation of s
Pump Test Analysis – Jacob Method

Jacob Approximation
1 LOG CYCLE

s2
∆s

s1
1 LOG CYCLE

t1 t2

Then T is known
t0
Pump Test Analysis – Jacob Method

Jacob Approximation

t0

Then S is known Semi-log

Time (t) for reaching radius of influence (R)

2.3Q 2.25Tt
s=0= log( 2 )
4πT R S

2.25Tt
1=
R2S
Pump Test Analysis – Jacob Method

Jacob Approximation
t0 = 8 min

s2 = 5 m
s1 = 2.6 m s2
∆s = 2.4 m ∆s

s1

t1 t2

t0
Thank you for the Attention

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