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The above groundwater flow equations are valid for three dimensional flow. In unconfined aquifers, the solution to the 3D form of the equation is complicated by the presence of a free surface water table boundary condition: in addition to solving for the spatial distribution of heads, the location of this surface is also an unknown. This is a ...
The method consists of filling the flow area with stream and equipotential lines, which are everywhere perpendicular to each other, making a curvilinear grid.Typically there are two surfaces (boundaries) which are at constant values of potential or hydraulic head (upstream and downstream ends), and the other surfaces are no-flow boundaries (i.e., impermeable; for example the bottom of the dam ...
Steady (equilibrium) state condition In steady state, the level of the water table remains constant and the discharge rate (Q) equals the rate of groundwater recharge (R), i.e. the amount of water entering the groundwater through the watertable per unit of time.
Below the water table, in the zone of saturation, layers of permeable rock that yield groundwater are called aquifers. In less permeable soils, such as tight bedrock formations and historic lakebed deposits, the water table may be more difficult to define. “Water table” and “water level” are not synonymous. If a deeper aquifer has a ...
The Thiem equation is a solution to the steady state groundwater flow equation (Laplace's Equation) for flow to a well. Unless there are large sources of water nearby (a river or lake), true steady-state is rarely achieved in reality. Both above equations are used in aquifer tests (pump tests).
Drawdown is often represented in cross-sectional diagrams of aquifers. A record of hydraulic head, or rate of flow , versus time is more generally called a hydrograph (in both groundwater and surface water). The main contributor to groundwater drawdown since the 1960s is over-exploitation of groundwater resources. [2]
Likewise, water will rise up above the water table into the small pore spaces around the soil particles. In fact the soil may be completely saturated for some distance above the water table. Above the height of capillary saturation, the soil may be wet but the water content will decrease with elevation.
Boundary conditions can be related to levels of the water table, artesian pressures, and hydraulic head along the boundaries of the model on the one hand (the head conditions), or to groundwater inflows and outflows along the boundaries of the model on the other hand (the flow conditions). This may also include quality aspects of the water like ...