GROUND WATER RESOURCES &

ENVIRONMENTAL HYDRAULICS
Groundwater
Groundwater is water that has infiltrated the ground to fill the spaces between
sediments and cracks in rock. Groundwater is fed by precipitation and can
resurface to replenish streams, rivers and lakes.
Aquifer
An aquifer is a body of rock and/or sediment that holds groundwater. Many
different types of sediments and rocks can form aquifers, including gravel,
sandstone, conglomerates, and fractured limestone.
Water Table
A water table describes the boundary between water-saturated ground and
unsaturated ground.
 Saturated Zone
Is where all the cracks in the rock and all the spaces between the grains
of rock or within the soil are filled with water.
 Unsaturated Zone / Vadose Zone
A zone above the water table, where pore spaces contain both air and
water.

1. Confined Aquifer
Is an aquifer where a low permeability layer (e.g. clay) bounds the upper
surface of the aquifer, confining the groundwater under pressure.
2. Unconfined Aquifer
Is an aquifer that is exposed at the surface, an aquifer that lie below a
permeable layer of soil.
Darcy’s Law and Application
Darcy’s law governs flow of oil, water, and gas in porous media. Darcy’s law
suggests that the flow rate at any point in the reservoir is given by the fluid
pressure gradient, the viscosity of the fluid, and its effective fluid permeability.
Darcy’s law equation:
Q= -KiA
Where:
Q= the rate of discharge
K= hydraulic conductivity
i= hydraulic gradient
A= Area
Environmental Hydraulics
Environmental hydraulics is the scientific study of environment water flows
and their related transport and transformation processes affecting the
environment quality of natural systems, such as rivers, lakes, and aquifers, on
our planet earth.
PROPERTIES OF FLUID
Definition of Fluid:
The fluid is a substance which is having a tendency to flow.
The fluid is a substance which deforms continuously (change in shape due to
relative motion) under the action of shear force, no matter how small.

MASS DENSITY / DENSITY

• The mass density of the fluid is described as the ratio of the mass of
fluid to its volume.

SPECIFIC WEIGHT OR WEIGHT DENSITY

• It is defined as the ratio of the weight of the fluid to the volume of
fluid.

SPECIFIC VOLUME
• The specific volume of the fluid is occupied by the unit mass of the
fluid.

SPECIFIC GRAVITY

• The specific gravity of the fluid is defined as the ratio of the density of the fluid
to the density of the standard fluid.

VISCOSITY
• It is defined as the property of a fluid which offers resistance to the
movement of one layer of fluid over another adjacent layer of the fluid.

SURFACE TENSION
• Surface tension is a contractive tendency of the surface of a fluid that
allows it to resist an external force.

Capillary action

 is the ability of a fluid to flow in narrow spaces without the assistance ofThe
rise or fall of liquid in small diameter tubes is due to molecular attraction is
called capillarity.

PRESSURE MEASUREMENT
Pressure means force per unit area, exerted by a fluid on the surface of the
container
P=F/A WHERE,
F – FORCE (in Newton)
A – AREA (in meter²)
Pressure is of two types
 • 1- STATIC PRESSURE -when the force in a system under pressure is
constant or static (i.e., unvarying), the pressure is said to be static
pressure.
• 2- DYNAMIC PRESSURE- If the force is varying, on the other hand,
the pressure is said to be dynamic pressure.

Method of Pressure Measurement

• Manometer method.
• Elastic pressure transducers.
• Pressure measurement by measuring vacuum.
• Pressure measurement by balancing the force produced on a known area
by a measured force.
• Electrical pressure transducers

HYDROSTATIC FORCE ON SURFACES

Hydrostatic Force on surfaces
• Force exerted by fluid at rest
a) Total Hydrostatic Force on Plane Surfaces
For horizontal plane surface submerged in liquid, or plane surface inside a gas
chamber, or any plane surface under the action of uniform hydrostatic
pressure.
b) Total Hydrostatic Force on Curved Surfaces
In the case of curved surface submerged in liquid at rest, it is more convenient
to deal with the horizontal and vertical components of the total force acting on
the surface
BUOYANCY AND FLOTATION
• When a body is immersed in fluid, an upward force is exerted by the fluid
on the body.
• This upward force is equal to the weight of the fluid displaced by the
body and is called the force of buoyancy.
FLOTATION
• Action of floating in a liquid or gas.

LAMINAR AND TURBULENT FLOW

• Laminar Flow-When the fluid is moving slowest, get a well-

defined streak-line. In laminar flow the streak-lines are straight
lines. The fluid flows smoothly down the pipe.
• Turbulent flow-When the fluid is moving faster, get an irregular streak-
line which blurs and spreads the dye out. The streak-line also fluctuates
randomly with time. In turbulent flow the streak-lines show wiggles and
vortices. The fluid does not flow smoothly down the pipe

PIPE NETWORKS
 It refers to the investigation of a particular area of the system of fluid
flow rate and its pressure through hydrodynamic network using interconnected
branches. Pipe network consists of interconnected pipes, which are used to
solve the problems of hydraulic design. The specialized section where the pipe
network theory can apply is in water utilities.

FLOW THROUGH PIPES

• is a type of flow within a closed conduit with a certain pressure

BOUNDARY LAYER THEORY

It is a thin layer of fluid in the immediate vicinity of a bounding surface
formed by the fluid flowing along the surface. The fluid’s interaction with the
wall induces a no-slip boundary condition (zero velocity at the wall)

FORCES ON IMMERSED BODIES

The forces which act on a body when it is immersed in a liquid are a
gravitational force (weight) and buoyant force. The upward force depends upon
the density of the fluid. The object will sink in the fluid if the density of the
object is more than the density of the fluid.

FLOW MEASUREMENT IN CHANNELS AND PIPES

Flow measurement is an action to measure the flow of liquids, gases and
vapors using a flow measurement instrument or device, which measures the
rate of flow or the quantity of flow.
Pressure flow meter instrument/device
1) ORIFICE --The orifice plate flow meter is a type of differential pressure
flow meter that is commonly used in clean liquid, gas, and stream
mass flow measurement.

2) VENTURI METER -- to measure the volume flow rate of a fluid in a

pipe. Venturi meters have been used for water and waste water
volume flow rate measurements for centuries. These gages use a
converging and diverging nozzle connected in-line to a pipe

3) FLOW NOZZLE -- determining fluid flow rates when the fluid enters or
exits a pipe via an orifice at high pressure and high temperature.

KINEMATICS OF FLOW
The kinematics of a flow describes the motion of the fluid without taking
into account the forces that cause this motion.
The goal of kinematics is to describe the dependence of the motion of the fluid
elements on time for a given velocity field.
CONTINUITY, MOMENTUM & ENERGY EQUATIONS

1) CONTINUITY EQUATION -- statement of the principle of mass

conservation for a steady, one-dimensional flow, with one inlet and
one outlet

2) MOMENTUM EQUATION -- mathematical formulation of the law of

conservation of momentum. It states that the rate of change in linear
momentum of a volume moving with a fluid is equal to the surface
forces and the body forces acting on a fluid.
3) ENERGY EQUATION-- mathematical formulation of the law of
conservation of energy.

CHANNEL HYDRAULICS
o CRITICAL FLOW -- the variation of specific energy with depth at a
constant discharge, which shows a minimum in the specific energy
at a depth called critical depth at which the froude number has a
value of one

o HYDRAULIC JUMP -- an important natural phenomenon that are

often engineered into hydraulic systems to dissipate fluid
mechanical energy into heat, this reduces the potential for damage
by high velocity liquid jetting from spillways.

o RAPID VARIED FLOW -- significant change in water depth or

velocity of flow over a short distance. This distance can be a few
times the water depth.

o GRADUALLY VARIED FLOW -- flow where the water depth changes

gradually over a large distance.

DESIGN OF LINED & UNLINED CHANNELS

o LINED CHANNELS -- canal is made up of some materials such as

brick or cement concrete which can block seepage of water into
soil.

o UNLINED CHANNELS -- doesn’t have any such arrangement,

therefore there is high seepage.