ERTH403/HYD503 Lecture 6

Effects of Boundary Condition

on Shape of Flow Nets

Seepage and Dams

Flow nets for
seepage through
earthen dams
Seepage under
concrete dams
Uses boundary
conditions (L & R)
Requires
curvilinear square
grids for solution

After Philip Bedient

Rice University

Hydrology Program, New Mexico Tech,

Prof. J. Wilson, Fall 2006 1
ERTH403/HYD503 Lecture 6

Flow Net in a Corner:

Streamlines !
are at right
angles to
equipotential
" lines

Flow to Pumping Center:

Contour map of the piezometric surface near Savannah, Georgia,

1957, showing closed contours resulting from heavy local
groundwater pumping (after USGS !Water-Supply Paper 1611).

Hydrology Program, New Mexico Tech,

Prof. J. Wilson, Fall 2006 2
ERTH403/HYD503 Lecture 6

Example: Travel Time

Luthy Lake
h = 100 m
The deadly radionuclide jaronium was released
in Luthy Lake one year ago. Half-life = 365 days
Concentration in Luthy Lake was 100 g/L.
If orphans receive jaronium over 50 g/L, they
will poop their diapers constantly. How long
will it take for the contaminated water to get
to Peacock Pond and into the orphanage water
supply? Will jaronium be over the limit?

h = 92 m
Orphanage
Peacock Pond

2
ltotal nltotal nltotal nltotal
"t total simple = = = = = 80days << 131days
v average KJ ave arg e K(4 # "h /ltotal ) K(4 # "h)

! Luthy Lake Travel time

h = 100 m
Contamination in Kidnapper Bog
!wi
Qi = K !hi b 4 4 4 4
!li "li n "l "l
!l1 "ttotal = # "ti = # = # i i = n# i
1 vi qi
1 1 1 1 qi

Qi K !hi K !h
qi = = =
!l2 2 wi b !li !li
! 4
n 4
"ttotal = ! "ti = ! "li2
!l3 3 1 K"h 1

Note: because of ! l terms are squared,

!l1 = 500m
accuracy in estimating !l is very important.
!l2 = 250m !l4 4

!l3 = 100m n = 0.25, "h = 2m, K = 10 !5 m/s,

h = 92 m
!l4 = 50m
Travel time is only 129 years.
ltotal = 900m Peacock Pond
But if K = 3.6 ! 10 "3 m/s, then travel time = 131 days!

Hydrology Program, New Mexico Tech,

Prof. J. Wilson, Fall 2006 3
ERTH403/HYD503 Lecture 6

Two Layer Flow System with

Sand Below

Ku / Kl = 1 / 50

Two Layer Flow System with

Tight Silt Below

Flow nets for seepage from one side of a channel through two different
anisotropic two-layer systems. (a) Ku / Kl = 1/50. (b) Ku / Kl = 50. Source:
Todd & Bear, 1961.

Hydrology Program, New Mexico Tech,

Prof. J. Wilson, Fall 2006 4
ERTH403/HYD503 Lecture 6

Flow nets in anisotropic media

SZ2005 Fig. 5.11

Flownets in Anisotropic Media

Example:

Ky
Kx

Kx = 15Ky

Hydrology Program, New Mexico Tech,

Prof. J. Wilson, Fall 2006 5
ERTH403/HYD503 Lecture 6

Flownets in Anisotropic Media

Kx = 15Ky

Flownets in Anisotropic Media

Kx = 15Ky

Hydrology Program, New Mexico Tech,

Prof. J. Wilson, Fall 2006 6
ERTH403/HYD503 Lecture 6

Flow Nets: an example

A dam is constructed on a permeable
stratum underlain by an impermeable
rock. A row of sheet pile is installed at
the upstream face. If the permeable soil
has a hydraulic conductivity of 150
ft/day, determine the rate of flow or
seepage under the dam.

After Philip Bedient

Rice University

Flow Nets: an example

Position: A B C D E F G H I J
Distance 0 3 22 37.5 50 62.5 75 86 94 100
from
front toe
(ft)
n 16.5 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1.2

The flow net is drawn with: m = 5 head drops

= 17

After Philip Bedient

Rice University

Hydrology Program, New Mexico Tech,

Prof. J. Wilson, Fall 2006 7
ERTH403/HYD503 Lecture 6

Flow Nets: the solution

Solve for the flow per unit width:

q=mK total change in head, H

number of head drops

= (5)(150)(35/17)

= 1544 ft3/day per ft

After Philip Bedient

Rice University

Flow Nets: An Example

There is an earthen dam 13 meters
across and 7.5 meters high.The
Impounded water is 6.2 meters deep,
while the tailwater is 2.2 meters deep.
The dam is 72 meters long. If the
hydraulic conductivity is 6.1 x 10-4
centimeter per second, what is the
seepage through the dam if the number
of head drops is = 21

K = 6.1 x 10-4cm/sec
= 0.527 m/day After Philip Bedient
Rice University

Hydrology Program, New Mexico Tech,

Prof. J. Wilson, Fall 2006 8
ERTH403/HYD503 Lecture 6

Flow Nets: the solution

From the flow net, the total head loss, H,
is 6.2 -2.2 = 4.0 meters.
There are (m=) 6 flow channels and
21 head drops along each flow path:
Q = (mKH/number of head drops) x dam
length = (6 x 0.527 m/day x 4m / 21) x (dam
length)
= 0.60 m3/day per m of dam

= 43.4 m3/day for the entire 72-meter

length of the dam
After Philip Bedient
Rice University

Aquifer Pumping Tests

Why do we need to know T and S (or K and Ss)?

-To determine well placement and yield
-To predict future drawdowns
-To understand regional flow
-Numerical model input
-Contaminant transport

How can we find this information?

-Flow net or other Darcys Law calculation
-Permeameter tests on core samples
-Tracer tests
-Inverse solutions of numerical models
-Aquifer pumping tests

Hydrology Program, New Mexico Tech,

Prof. J. Wilson, Fall 2006 9
ERTH403/HYD503 Lecture 6

Steady Radial Flow Toward a Well

Aquifer Equation, based on assumptions becomes an ODE for h(r) :
(Laplaces
-steady flow in a homogeneous, isotropic aquifer !2h = 0 equation)

-fully penetrating pumping well & horizontal, ! 2h ! 2h (Laplaces

confined aquifer of uniform thickness, thus

+ =0 equation
!x 2 !y 2 in x,y 2D)
essentially horizontal groundwater flow
(Laplaces
1 d & dh # equation in
-flow symmetry: radially symmetric flow $r ! = 0 radial
r dr % dr " coordinates)

Boundary conditions
-2nd order ODE for h(r) , need two BCs at two rs, say r1 and r2
-Could be
-one Dirichlet BC and one Neuman, say at well radius, rw ,
if we know the pumping rate, Qw
-or two Dirichlet BCs, e.g., two observation wells.

Steady Radial Flow Toward a Well

Hydrology Program, New Mexico Tech,

Prof. J. Wilson, Fall 2006 10
ERTH403/HYD503 Lecture 6

Island with a confined aquifer in a lake

h2 h1

We need to have a confining layer for our 1-D (radial) flow equation to
applyif the aquifer were unconfined, the water table would slope down to
the well, and we would have flow in two dimensions.

Steady Radial Flow Toward a Well

dh
1 d & dh # Constant C1: Qw = (2"r)T
ODE $r ! = 0 dr
r dr % dr " dh Qw
r = =C
Multiply both sides by r dr dr 2"T
& dh # Separate variables:
d$r ! = 0 Qw dr
% dr " = dh
! 2!T r
dh
Integrate r = !C1 Integrate again:
dr
r2 h2
Evaluate constant C1 using continuity. Qw dr
The Qw pumped by the well must equal
2"T
# r
= # dh
the total Q along the circumference for every r1 h1
radius r. dh dh
Qw = Q(r) = KA = K(2"r)b
dr dr
dh dh
= (2"r)Kb =(2"r)T
dr dr
!

Hydrology Program, New Mexico Tech,

Prof. J. Wilson, Fall 2006 11
ERTH403/HYD503 Lecture 6

Steady-State Pumping Tests

r2
r1

h2 h1 r2 h2
Qw dr
2"T
# r
= # dh
r1 h1

Integrate

2(T
(h2 ' h1 )= ln$$ r2 !!
& #
Q % r1 "

'r $
Q ln%% 2 ""
& r1 # Thiem Equation
T=
2( (h2 ! h1 )

Hydrology Program, New Mexico Tech,

Prof. J. Wilson, Fall 2006 12
ERTH403/HYD503 Lecture 6

Steady-State Pumping Tests

Why is the equation logarithmic?

This came about during the switch to radial coordinates.

What is the physical rationale for

h
the shape of this curve (steep at
small r, flat at high r)?

Think of water as flowing

toward the well through a series
of rings.

As we approach the well the

rings get smaller. A is
smaller but Q is the
same, so dh must increase.
dl

(Driscoll, 1986)

Hydrology Program, New Mexico Tech,

Prof. J. Wilson, Fall 2006 13
ERTH403/HYD503 Lecture 6

The Thiem equation tells us there is a logarithmic relationship between

head and distance from the pumping well.

' 10r $
Q ln%% 1 ""
T= & r1 #
2( !hlc

#hlc

one log cycle

(Schwartz and Zhang, 2003)

The Thiem equation tells us there is a logarithmic relationship between

head and distance from the pumping well.

' 10r $
Q ln%% 1 ""
T= & r1 #
2( !hlc

#hlc
ln (x ) ! 2.3 log(x )
ln (10 ) ! 2.303

2.3 Q
T=
2 " !hlc

one log cycle

If T decreases, slope increases (Schwartz and Zhang, 2003)

Hydrology Program, New Mexico Tech,

Prof. J. Wilson, Fall 2006 14
ERTH403/HYD503 Lecture 6

Steady-State Pumping Tests

Can we determine S from a Thiem analysis?

Nohead isnt changing!

Hydrology Program, New Mexico Tech,

Prof. J. Wilson, Fall 2006 15