Groundwater

Dr. Litan Kumar Ray

Assistant Professor
Civil Engineering Department
NIT Warangal
Forms of subsurface water

• Water in the soil mantle is called subsurface water

• Study of subsurface flow is equally important since 30% of the
world’s fresh water resources exist in the form of groundwater
• Subsurface water is considered in two zones
1. Saturation zone
2. Aeration zone
Saturation zone:
This zone is also known as groundwater zone, is the space in
which all the pores of the soil are filled with water
Zone of aeration:
• In this zone the soil pores are only partially saturated with water
• The space between the land surface and the water table marks the extent of this
zone
• The zone of aeration has three subzones
Soil water zone: this lies close to the ground surface in the major root band of the
vegetation from which the water is lost to the atmosphere by evapotranspiration
Capillary Fringe: in this the water is held by capillary action. This zone extends
from the water table upwards to the limit of the capillary rise
Intermediate zone: this lies between the soil water zone and the capillary fringe
The thickness of the zone of aeration and its constituent subzones depends upon the
soil texture and moisture content and vary from region to region
Saturated formation
Saturated formations are classified into four categories:
1. Aquifer
2. Aquitard
3. Aquiclude
4. Aquifuge
Aquifer:
• An aquifer is a saturated formation of earth material which not only stores
water but yields it in sufficient quantity
• Thus an aquifer transmits water relatively easily due to its high permeability
• Unconsolidated deposits of sand and gravel form good aquifers
• The availability of groundwater from an aquifer at a place depends upon the
rates of withdrawal and replenishment (recharge)
Aquitard:
• It is a formation through which only seepage is possible and thus the yield
is insignificant compared to an aquifer
• It is partly permeable
• A sandy clay unit is an example of aquitard
• Through an aquitard appreciable quantities of water may leak to an
aquifer below it
Aquiclude:
• It is a geological formation which is essentially impermeable to the flow
water
• It may be considered as closed to water movement even through it may
contain large amount of water due to its high porosity
• Clay is an example of an aquiclude
Aquifuge:
• It is a geological formation which is neither porous nor
permeable
• There are no interconnected openings and hence it cannot
transmit water
• Massive compact rock without any fracture is an aquifuge
Classification of aquifers:
1. Unconfined aquifers
2. Confined aquifers

Unconfined aquifers: (water table aquifer)

• Is one in which free water surface, i.e. a water table exists
• Only the saturated zone of this aquifer is of importance in
groundwater studies
• Recharge of this aquifer takes place through infiltration of
precipitation from the ground surface
Confined aquifer: (artesian aquifer)

• Is an aquifer which is confined

between two impervious beds
such as aquicludes or
aquifuges
• Recharge of this aquifer takes
place only in the area where it
is exposed at the ground
surface
• A confined aquifer is called a
leaky aquifer if either or both
of its confining beds are
aquitards
Water table
• A water table is the free water surface in an unconfined aquifer
• The static level of a well penetrating an unconfined aquifer indicates
the level of the water table at that point
• If the water table intersects the land surface the ground water comes
out to the surface in the form of springs or seepage
Effluent streams: If the bed of the stream is below the groundwater
table, during periods of low flows in the stream, the water surface may
go down below the general water table elevation and the groundwater
contributes to the flow in the stream. Such streams which receive
groundwater flow are called Effluent streams. (Ex. Perennial rivers)
Influent streams:

• Water table is below the bed

of the stream, the stream-
water percolates to the
groundwater storage and a
hump is formed in the
groundwater table. Such
streams which contribute to
the groundwater are known
as Influent streams. (Ex.
Intermittent rivers)
Aquifer properties:

1. Porosity:
• The amount of pore space per unit volume of the aquifer material is called
porosity
𝑉𝑣
𝑛=
𝑉0
Where
n = porosity
𝑉𝑣 = volume of voids
𝑉0 = volume of the porous medium
• In qualitative terms porosity greater than 20% is consider as large,
between 5 and 20% as medium and less than 5% as small
2. Specific yield:

• The actual volume of water that can be extracted by the force

of gravity from a unit volume of aquifer material is known as
the specific yield Sy
• The fraction of water held back in the aquifer is known as
specific retention Sr
𝑛 = 𝑆𝑦 + 𝑆𝑟
Darcy’s law
• In 1856 henry Darcy, a French hydraulic engineer, on the basis of his
experimental findings proposed a law relating the velocity of flow in a porous
medium. This law is known as Darcy’s law
𝑉 = 𝐾𝑖
Where
V = apparent velocity of seepage = Q/A
Q = discharge
A = cross sectional area of porous medium
𝑑ℎ
𝑖= − = hydraulic gradient
𝑑𝑠
h = piezometric head
 s = distance measured in the general flow direction
-ve = indicate that the piezometric head drops in the direction of flow
K = coefficient of permeability, having units of velocity

• The discharge Q can be expressed as

Δ𝐻
𝑄 = 𝐾𝑖𝐴= −
Δ𝑠
−Δ𝐻 is the drop in the hydraulic grade line in a length Δ𝑠 if the porous medium
• For practical purposes, the limit of the validity of Darcy’s law can be taken as
Reynolds number of value unity
𝑉𝑑𝑎
𝑅𝑒 = =1
𝜐
𝑅𝑒 = Reynolds number
𝑑𝑎 = representative particle size, usually 𝑑𝑎 = 𝑑10
𝜐 = kinematic viscosity of water

Coefficient of Permeability (K):

• Is also designed as hydraulic conductivity reflects the combined
effects of the porous medium and fluid properties
• From an analogy of laminar flow through a conduit ( Hagen-
Poiseuille flow)
2
𝛾
𝐾 = 𝐶𝑑𝑚
𝜇
Where
dm = mean particle size of the porous medium
𝛾 = ρ𝑔 = unit weight of fluid
𝜇 = dynamic viscosity of the fluid
C = a shape factor which depends on the porosity, packing, shape of
grains and grain-size distribution of the porous medium
• Thus for a given porous material
1
𝐾∝
𝜐
𝜇
Where 𝜐 = = 𝑓(𝑡𝑒𝑚𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒)
𝜌
• The laboratory or standard value of the coefficient of permeability (𝐾𝑠) is
taken as that for pure water at a standard temperature of 20oC
• The value of Kt, the coefficient of permeability at any temperature t can be converted
to Ks by the relation

𝐾𝑠 = 𝐾𝑡 𝜐𝑡 𝜐𝑠
Where 𝜐𝑠 and 𝜐𝑡 represent the kinematic viscosity values at 20oC and toC respectively
Intrinsic permeability:(𝑲𝟎)
𝛾 𝑔
𝐾 = 𝐾0 = 𝐾0
𝜇 𝜈
Where
2
𝐾0 = 𝐶𝑑𝑚
𝐾0 is a function of the medium only and has dimensions of [𝐿2]
It is expressed in units of cm2 or m2 or in darcys
− 13
Where 1 𝑑𝑎𝑟𝑐𝑦 = 9.87 × 10 𝑚2
Transmissibility:
• Consider an aquifer of unit width and thickness B, (i.e. depth of
a fully saturated zone). The discharge through this aquifer
under a unit hydraulic gradient is Transmissibility
𝑇 = 𝐾𝐵
• T has the dimensions of [𝐿2/𝑇]
Stratification
• Sometimes the aquifers may be stratified, with different
permeabilities in each strata.
• Two kinds of flow situations are possible in such a case

1. Flow is parallel to the stratification:

Equivalent permeability 𝐾𝑒 of the entire aquifer of thickness 𝐵 = 𝑛
1 𝐵𝑖

𝑛
1 𝐾𝑖 𝐵𝑖
𝐾𝑒 = 𝑛
1 𝐵𝑖
The transmissivity of the formation is 𝑛

𝑇 = 𝐾𝑒 𝐵𝑖 = 𝐾𝑖 𝐵𝑖
1
2. When the flow is normal to the stratification
The equivalent permeability Ke of the aquifer of length 𝐿 = 𝑛
1 𝐿𝑖
is

𝑛
1 𝐿𝑖
𝐾𝑒 = 𝑛
1 𝐿𝑖 𝐾𝑖
Note : in this case L is the length of seepage and the thickness B
of the aquifer does not come into picture in calculating the
equivalent permeability
The transmissivity of the aquifer is 𝑇 = 𝐾𝑒 . 𝐵
 Steady ground water flow analysis:
Confined flow:
B = thickness of confined aquifer
Q = discharge
H = original piezometric head (static
head)
hw = piezometric head at the pumping
well
Sw = drawdown
r = radial distance from the well
h = piezometric head
• The velocity of flow by Darcy’s law is
𝑑ℎ
𝑉𝑟 = 𝐾
𝑑𝑟
• The cylindrical surface through which this velocity occurs is 2𝜋𝑟𝐵
• Hence by equating the discharge entering this surface to the well
discharge
𝑑ℎ 𝑄 𝑑𝑟
𝑄 = 2𝜋𝑟𝐵 𝐾 = 𝑑ℎ
𝑑𝑟 2𝜋𝐾𝐵 𝑟
• Integrating between limits r1 and r2 with the corresponding piezometric
heads being h1 and h2
𝑄 𝑟2
ln = (ℎ2 − ℎ1 )
2𝜋𝐾𝐵 𝑟1
 2𝜋𝐾𝐵(ℎ2 − ℎ1 )
𝑄= 𝑟2
ln
𝑟1
This is the equilibrium equation for the steady flow in a confined
aquifer

• If the drawdown s1 and s2 at the observation wells are known, then

by noting that

𝑠1 = 𝐻 − ℎ1, 𝑠2 = 𝐻 − ℎ2 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐾𝐵 = 𝑇
Then
2𝜋𝑇(𝑠2 − 𝑠1 )
𝑄= 𝑟2
ln
𝑟1
Unconfined flow

rw = radius of well
r = any radial distance
The velocity of radial flow into well
𝑑ℎ
𝑉𝑟 = 𝐾
𝑑𝑟
h = height of the water table above
the aquifer bed
For steady flow, by continuity
𝑑ℎ
𝑄 = 2𝜋𝑟ℎ 𝑉𝑟 = 2𝜋𝑟𝐾ℎ
𝑑𝑟
 𝑄 𝑑𝑟
= ℎ 𝑑ℎ
2𝜋𝐾𝐵 𝑟
• Integrating between limits r1 and r2 where the water table depths are h1
and h2 respectively
𝜋𝐾 ℎ22 − ℎ12
𝑄= 𝑟
ln 2
𝑟1
This is the equilibrium equation for a well in an unconfined aquifer
• As at the edge of the zone of influence of radius R, H is the saturation
thickness of the aquifer

𝜋𝐾 𝐻22 − ℎ𝑤
2
𝑄=
𝑅
ln
𝑟𝑤
hw = depth of water in the pumping well of radius rw
Specific storage: (Ss)
• Represents the volume of water released from storage from a unit
volume of aquifer due to a unit decrease in the piezometric head
−1
• It has the dimensions of [𝐿 ]

𝑆𝑠 = 𝛾 𝑛𝛽 + 𝛼
Where
n= porosity of the aquifer
𝛼 = compressibility of the pores
𝛽 = compressibility of water
𝛾 = unit weight of water
Storage coefficient: (𝑺)
𝑆 = 𝛾 𝑛𝛽 + 𝛼 𝐵
• The storage coefficient S (also known as Storativity) represents the
volume of water released by a column of a confined aquifer of unit
cross-sectional area under a unit decrease in the piezometric head
• The storage coefficient S and the transmissibility coefficient T are
known as the Formation constants of an aquifer and play very
important role in the unsteady flow through the porous media
• For an unconfined aquifer, the coefficient of storage is given by
𝑆 = 𝑆𝑦 + 𝛾 𝑛𝛽 + 𝛼 𝐵𝑠
𝐵𝑠 = saturated thickness of the aquifer
Specific capacity

• The discharge per unit drawdown at the well (𝑄/𝑆𝑤) is known

as specific capacity of a well and is measure of the performance
of the well
𝑄 2𝜋
= 𝑇 𝑖. 𝑒 (𝑄/𝑆𝑤) ∝ 𝑇
𝑆𝑤 𝑙𝑛 𝑅 𝑟𝑤
However, for common case of a well discharging at a constant rate
Q under unsteady drawdown conditions, the specific capacity is
given by

𝑄 1
=
𝑆𝑤 1 2.25 𝑇 𝑡
𝑙𝑛 2 + 𝐶2 𝑄
4𝜋𝑇 𝑟𝑤 . 𝑆
Where
t = time after the start of pumping
𝐶2 𝑄 is to account for well loss
It can be seen that the specific capacity depends upon T, s, t, rw and Q
Thank you