NUST

NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF
NBC|
NUST
Balochistan
SCIENCES & TECHNOLOGY Campus

5th Semester | CE 341

Engineering Hydrology

Lecture 02 –Basic Definitions and Law in groundwater

hydrology, Ground Water Flow and Zone, Problems

Dr. Sallahuddin Panhwar

Assistant Professor
Civil Engineering Department
Cell phone# 0300-3790096
Email: [email protected]
 Contents

Basic Definitions and Law in groundwater hydrology

Ground Water Flow and Zone,

Aquifer Perimeters:

• Porosity, Specific Yield, Specific Retention, Storage Coefficient,

Permeability & Transmissibility.

• Examples.

1
 Ground Water Hydrology

 Groundwater is water located beneath the earth surface

in soil pore spaces and in the fractures of rock
formation.

 The depth at which soil pore spaces, fractures and

voids in rock become completely saturated with water
is called water table.

2
 Ground Water Hydrology

 The science dealing with the Subsurface water of the

earth, their occurrence, distribution and circulation,
their chemical and physical properties and their
interaction with environment.
&
 Hydrogeology deals with how water gets into the
ground (recharge), how it flows in the subsurface
(through aquifers) and how groundwater interacts with
the surrounding soil and rock (the geology).

2
 How Much Do We Depend On Groundwater?

 Pakistan is the third-largest user of groundwater for irrigation in the world.

 More then 50% of groundwater is used for irrigation.

 Groundwater supplies 90 percent of domestic water in rural areas of

Pakistan.

 Groundwater is an important component in many industrial processes.

 Groundwater is a source of recharge for lakes, rivers, and wetlands.

3
 Ground Water Hydrology
• Ground water is widely distributed under the ground and is a noble
resource unlike other resources of the earth.

• The problems in Ground Water Investigation are the zones of occurrence

and recharge.
• The modern trends are to create more opportunity for recharge of ground
water from natural sources like rain, percolation dams, etc.

• The ground water is free from pollution and the ground water storage is
free from atomic attacks.

• Ground water can be developed at a small capital cost in least possible

time, and intensive irrigation can be practiced with double and triple
cropping including commercial crops.
5
 Ground Water Hydrology

The groundwater is the water that exists in the pore spaces and fractures in the
rocks and sediments beneath the unsaturated zone of soil which can flow freely
in to a well, tunnel, spring etc.

Groundwater occurrence mainly depends on:

 Porosity
 Saturated and Unsaturated Zones
 Permeability of soil
 Aquifer
 Storage Coefficient

4
HYDROLOGY | themes | Soil water

“Water stored in the

unsaturated zone above the
water table is called soil water”

Topics
• Aquifers
• Soil moisture
• Capillary rise &
evaporation
• Infiltration & percolation

6
 Forms of Subsurface Water
Water in the soil mantle is called subsurface water and is considered in two
zones:

1. Aeration Zone
2. Saturated Zone

7
 Forms of Subsurface Water
Saturated Zone : This zone, also known as groundwater zone, is the space in
which all the pores of the soil are filled with water.

Aeration Zone : 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 sub zones.

Soil Water Zone : This zone is closed to the ground surface in the major root
band of the vegetation from which the water is lost to the atmosphere by
evapotranspiration.

8
 Forms of Subsurface Water

Capillary Fringe : In this the water is held by capillary action. This zone
extends from water table upwards to the limit of the capillary rise.

Intermediate Zone : This lies between the soil water zone and the capillary
fringe. This thickness of the zone of the aeration and its constitute subzones
depend upon the soil texture and moisture content and vary from region to
region. The soil moisture in the zone of aeration is of the importance in the
agriculture practice and irrigation engineering.

9
Forms of Subsurface Water

10
 WATER TABLE
 Water Table
• Top of saturated zone
• Depressed version of topography
• Surface waters are manifestations of the water table – exposed water table.

11
 Perched Water Table

 Some times a localized patch of impervious stratum can occur inside an

unconfined aquifer in such a way that it retains a water table above the
general water table. Such water table is called Perched Water Table.

12
 Aquifer

An aquifer is a ground-water reservoir composed of geologic units that are

saturated with water and sufficiently permeable to yield water in a usable
quantity to wells and springs.

Sand gravel deposits, sandstone, limestone and fractured, crystalline rocks are
the examples of geological units that form aquifers.

Aquifers provided two important functions:

1. To transmit ground water from areas of recharge to areas of discharge.
2. To provide a storage medium for usable quantities of ground water.

The amount of water a material can hold depends upon its porosity.

13
Aquifer

13
 AQUIFER
Types of Aquifers:
1. Unconfined Aquifer
2. Confined Aquifer

Unconfined Aquifer
 Unconfined Aquifer – water is in contact with atmospheric pressure – drill
and well hit the water table.
 Although unconfined aquifers are used for water supply, they are often
contaminated by wastes and chemicals at the surface.

14
AQUIFER

15
 AQUIFER

Confined Aquifer

 Confined aquifers, also known as artesian or pressure

aquifers, occur where ground water is confined under
pressure greater than atmospheric by overlying
relatively impermeable strata.

 Confined aquifers are less likely to be contaminated

and thereby provide supplies of good quality of
water.

16
An artesian well is simply a well that
doesn’t require a pump to bring water
to the surface; this occurs when there
is enough pressure in the aquifer. The
pressure forces the water to the surface
without any sort of assistance.

17
 Aquifer Perimeters
Properties of Aquifer:

1. Porosity
2. Specific Yield
3. Specific Retention
4. Coefficient of permeability
5. Transmissibility
6. Specific Storage
7. Storage Coefficient

19
 Aquifer Perimeters
1. Porosity – It is the open space between soil particles.
• In the sediments or sedimentary rocks the porosity depends on grain size, the shape
of the grains, the degree of sorting and degree of cementing.

• In rocks, the porosity depends upon the extent, spacing and pattern of the cracks
and fractures.

• Well-rounded coarse-grained sediments usually have higher porosity than fine-

grained sediments, because of the grains don’t fit together well.

20
 Aquifer Perimeters
2. Specific Yield – It is the ratio of the volume of water that drains from ground water
storage by pumping from wells to the total volume of the saturated aquifer.

Where Sy = Specific Yield

Sr = Specific Retention
n = Porosity

Note: Porosity alone cant not

ensure high specific yield. Porosity(%) Range
0-5 Low
5-20 Medium
20-40 High

22
 Aquifer Perimeters

3. Specific Retention – It is the ratio of the volume of water that can not drained out to the
total volume of the saturated aquifer.

The specific retention increases with decreasing grain size.

Soil having low permeability may not easily drain out. For example, clay has a high porosity but
low specific yield and its permeability is low.

4. Coefficient of permeability – It is the ease with which water can flow in a soil mass or
rock.

The coefficient of permeability (K) is equal to the discharge (cm/s) (m 3/s) per unit area (m2) of soil
mass under unit hydraulic gradient. It is expressed as m/s, m/day, etc.

The coefficient of permeability is also called Hydraulic Conductivity.

24
 Aquifer Perimeters
5. Transmissibility – It is the discharge rate at which water is transmitted through a unit
of an aquifer under a unit hydraulic gradient.

It is usually expressed as m3/day/m or m2/s.

As T = K.B
Where T = Transmissibility
K = Permeability
B = Thickness of Aquifer

6. Specific Storage – Volume released from storage per unit volume of aquifer per unit
drop in head.
It can be calculated as:

Ss = S/b
Where Ss = Specific Storage
S = Storage Coefficient
b = Thickness of Layer
25
 Aquifer Perimeters

7. Storage Coefficient – the volume of water released from storage with respect to the
change in head (water level) and surface area of the aquifer.

 The value of the storage coefficient is dependent upon whether the aquifer is unconfined or
confined.

It can be calculated as

Where S = Storage Coefficient

γ = Unit Weight of Water
b = Thickness of Layer
α = Compressibility of Bed Particle
β = Compressibility of Water
n = Porosity

26
 Permeability of Soil
Permeability is the measure of the soil’s ability to permit water to flow through its pores or
voids. Knowledge of the permeability properties of soil is necessary to:
 Estimating the quantity of underground seepage.
 Solving problems involving pumping seepage water from construction excavation.

Factors affecting permeability of soil:

1. Grain Size – Smaller the gran-size the smaller the voids and thus the lower the
permeability.

2. Void ratio – Increase in the porosity leads to the increase in permeability.

3. Compaction - The influence of soil compaction on permeability is generally in

significant in the case of gravels, sands, and silts, unless mica and organics matter are
present.

27
 Permeability of Soil
4. Soil Structural – Fine-grained soils with a flocculated structure have a
higher coefficient of permeability than those with a dispersed structure.

5. Degree of Saturation – Higher of saturation, higher is the permeability.

6. Presence of entrapped air and other foreign matter reduces the

permeability of a soil.

28
Principal Types of Aquifer Materials

18
 Coefficient of Permeability of Soil

Measurement of coefficient of permeability of soil:

1. Laboratory Test (Using Darcy’s Law)
 Constant Head Permeability Test - Suitable for coarse grained soils.
 Falling or Variable Head Permeability Test – Suitable for fine
grained soils.

2. Field Tests
 Pumping Out Tests Constant Head Permeability Test
 Pumping In Tests

3. Indirect Methods
 Computation from the particle size
 Computation from consolidation test.

29
 Porosity according to Darcy Laws

Example 01: The volumetric flux in a poorly-sorted sand

aquifer is 0.05m/day. The effective porosity is 0.1. How long do
it take for the water travel 100m?

29
Example 02: The water table level in tow observations wells are
350 m apart are +210.25 m and +206.25 m respectively. If the
hydraulic conductivity and porosity of the aquifers are 12.5
m/day and 15%. What is the actual velocity of in the aquifers?

29
 Example 03
Home Work

30
31
32
33
34
35
Any Question?

36