Ground water Ch-3

CHAPTER THREE

GROUNDWATER MOVEMENT
1.1 . General
Part of the rain falling over the land surface infiltrates into the soil and the remaining flows down
as surface runoff. From the point of view of water resources engineering, the surface water forms
a direct source which is utilized for a variety of purposes. However, most of the water that
infiltrates into the soil travels down to recharge the vast groundwater stored at a depth within the
earth. In fact, the groundwater reserve is actually a huge source of fresh water and is many times
that of surface water. Such large water reserve remains mostly untapped though locally or
regionally, the withdrawal may be high.

Figure 3.1: Subsurface water movement

What happens to the water that is infiltrated at the surface of the unsaturated soil during
application of water from above? It moves downward due to gravity through inter connected
pores that are filled with water. With increasing water content, more pores fill, and the rate of
downward movement of water increases. A measure of the average rate of movement of water
within soil (or permeable bed rock) is the hydraulic conductivity, indicated as „K‟, and has the
unit of velocity. Though it is more or less constant for a particular type of soil in the saturated
zone, it is actually a function of the moisture content in the unsaturated portion of the soil.

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The water that infiltrates through the unsaturated soil layers and move vertically ultimately
reaches the saturated zone and raises the water table. Since it increases the quantity of water in
the saturated zone, it is also termed as „recharge‟ of the groundwater

3.2 Darcy’s law and groundwater movement

The theory of groundwater movement originates from a study by the French water works
engineer Henry Darcy, first published in 1856. From many experiments with a setup (Fig. 3.2) he
concluded that the groundwater discharge, Q is proportional to the difference in hydraulic head,
Δh and cross-sectional area A and inversely proportional to the length, ΔL, thus:-
( ) …………………… (3.1)

In general terms or simply ………………………………(3.2)

Where:-
K = the proportionality constant, hydraulic conductivity, expressed in units of velocity
(h2-h1) = -Δh = the drop in the hydraulic grade line in a length of Δl of the porous medium
V = the specific discharge and we use the letter q instead of V.

It may be noted that the apparent velocity, q used in Darcy’s law is not the actual velocity of
flow through the pores. Owing to irregular pore geometry the actual velocity of flow (Vact)
varies from point to point and the bulk pore velocity which represents the actual speed of travel
of water in the porous media is expressed as:-

……………………………………(3.4)
Where:-
ne= the effective porosity which is smaller than the porosity n, as the pores that do not
contribute to the transport are excluded (dead end pores). The actual velocity is important in
water quality problems, to determine the transport of contaminants. The bulk pore
velocity (V) is the velocity that is obtained by tracking a tracer added to the groundwater.

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Figure 3.2. Setup showing tube experiment of Henry Darcy

Darcy‟s law for the computation of the specific discharge is then as follows:-
( )…………………………………….(3.5)
Where:-
q = specific discharge or flow rate per unit area (m/day),
K = coefficient of permeability or hydraulic conductivity of rock (m/day),
Δh = hydraulic head (m),
Δl= distance measured in flow direction (m).

We may split up the specific discharge into its components in the Cartesian coordinates X, Y and
Z directions. For the three dimensions, the following equations are then valid for flow in
isotropic porous medium and Darcy's law will be written as:-

( ) ( ) ( )……………………… (3.6)

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3.3 Mathematical equation for groundwater flow problems

3.3.1 Groundwater flow in confined aquifer

Continuity equations: Darcy’s law is a powerful tool and can be used by itself to
compute groundwater flow in groundwater basins. Nevertheless, the relationship is often used
in combination with the law of conservation of mass and its mathematical equivalent: the
equation of continuity.
Total mass in - total mass out = change of mass storage
If the density of groundwater is constant, mass balance will be identical to water balance.
Water balance states that:
Total flow in - total flow out = change of water storage

If we denote the mass of groundwater flowing through the left face as:

Then we can approximate the mass flow through the right face by taking the first two terms of a
Taylor series:-
( )
* + (3.8)
The loss or gain of mass flow per time unit in the Y-direction can then be expressed as follows:-
( )

The law of the conservation of mass states that the sum of the gains or losses of mass flow in the
X, Y, and Z directions is equal to the loss or gain in mass of the groundwater stored in
the elemental control volume Per time unit and realizing that the change of the groundwater
mass in the control volume is equal to its volume times the change in density and porosity
n, we then obtain:-

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( )
-* +

For a unit volume (say with sides of 1m):

For a constant density, ( ):

Figure 3.4 control volume for development of the continuity equation in porous medium

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The general control volume equation for continuity is applicable :-

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Equations (3.12) to (3.17) are considered the basic continuity equations for the
description of groundwater flow. Equation (3.17) is considered to be three dimensional
basic differential equation governing unsteady groundwater flow in homogeneous isotropic
confined aquifer. This form of the equation is known as diffusion equation.

If the flow is steady, the term does not exist, leading to . This equation is known as the
Laplace equation and is the fundamental equation of all potential flow problems. Being linear,
the method of superposition is applicable in its solutions.

3.3.2 Groundwater flow in confined aquifer between two water bodies

This is an application of the Laplace equation, a simple situation of steady state one-dimensional
confined porous media flow.
Fig. 3.4 shows a very wide confined aquifer of depth H connecting two water bodies. A section
of the aquifer of unit width is considered. The piezometric head at the upstream end is Ho and at
a distance X from the upstream end is h.

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By Darcy Law, the discharge per unit width of the aquifer is:-

3.3.3 Unconfined Flow By Dupit’s assumption

In unconfined aquifers the free surface of the water table, known as phreatic surface, has
the boundary condition of constant pressure equal to atmospheric pressure. These
boundary conditions cause considerable difficulties in analytical solutions of steady
unconfined flow problems by using the Laplace equation.
Consider an unconfined aquifer is above a horizontal impermeable base;
 The porous medium is homogeneous (K = constant);
 The aquifer receives uniform recharge (w = constant) on the top; w is defined as amount
of water entering to aquifer per unit length and width per unit time.
 The aquifer is bounded by two rivers of constant stages h0 and hL.
 Although flow is two-dimensional in the cross-section, vertical flow velocity is much
smaller than the horizontal flow so that the flow is assumed to be one-dimensional
horizontal flow (Dupuit's assumption).
A simplified approach based on the assumptions suggested by Dupuit (1863) which gives
reasonably good results in relatively easier manner is described below.

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i. The curvature of the free surface is very small so that the streamlines can be assumed to
be horizontal at all sections.
ii. The hydraulic grade line is equal to the free surface slope and does not vary with depth.
iii. The flow in aquifers is horizontal and that in aquitard is vertical.
Consider an elementary prism of fluid bounded by the water table shown in figure 3.5 below

Figure 3.5 unconfined ground water flows without recharge

Let gross velocity of groundwater entering the element in x direction gross velocity
of groundwater entering the element in Y direction.
Assume a horizontal impervious base and no vertical inflow from top due recharge. By
dupit’s assumptions.
Considering X direction

The mass flux entering the element

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3.3.4 Unconfined Flow with recharge

If there is a recharge, i.e infiltration of water from the top ground surface into the aquifer, at a
rate of R (m3/s per m2 of horizontal area) as in the figure 3.6 the continuity equation Eq.(3.22) is
to be modified to take into account the recharge. Consider the element of an unconfined aquifer
as in figure 3.6 situated on a horizontal impervious bed.

Figure 3.6 unconfined ground water flows with recharge

Here, in addition to ΔMx and ΔMy there will be a net inflow into the element in the Z direction
given by

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3.3.5 One dimensional dupit’s flow with recharge

Figure 3.7 one dimensional Dupt’s flow with recharge

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3.4 Flow net

Flow nets for aquifer systems can be prepared on the basis of groundwater head contour maps.
For this purpose groundwater flow lines or streamlines are drawn perpendicular to the contour
lines on these maps (Fig.3.10). we will find that we end up with a map showing a grid of squares
or rectangles. Such a grid is referred to as a flow net. For each of the aquifers in an aquifer
system we can make a map showing a flow net composed of groundwater head contour lines and
flow lines.

Figure 3.10 Flow net near a river and subsurface moisture zone before and after infiltration
Flow nets have a characteristic shape at the boundaries of an aquifer system.
The flow nets at three common types of boundaries:-
A. Impermeable boundaries
B. Constant head boundaries and
C. Groundwater table boundaries.
The following comments can be made:
a) Impermeable boundary: This could be the boundary with an impermeable geological
formation like unfractured igneous rock. Since there can be no flow component across the
boundary flow lines can only run parallel to the boundary while the groundwater head
Contour lines are perpendicular to this boundary.

b) Constant head boundary: This could be the boundary with open water such as a river, a
lake or the sea. If we assume that the open water level is constant then the boundary can
be considered as a groundwater head contour line. The flow lines are perpendicular to this open
water boundary.
c) Groundwater table boundary: This is a boundary, which may be influenced by recharge or
discharge or none of these phenomena at all. First consider the case of recharge or discharge. The
flow lines and the groundwater head contour lines one both at an angle to the boundary. In case
there is no recharge or discharge then the groundwater table acts as an impermeable boundary:
the flow lines are parallel to the table and the groundwater head contour lines are perpendicular.

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The flow lines are in fact the borderlines of so called stream tubes. Groundwater which is
flowing through an individual stream tube is not loosing, neither gaining groundwater
from the neighboring tubes. By summation of the flow through individual stream tubes
the total flow through an aquifer or aquitard can be calculated. The computation of the
groundwater flow in this way is more precise than to estimate it from groundwater head
contour maps only. This is in particular true for complex groundwater contour patterns where
the contour lines are not straight and parallel.

Figure 3.11 Flow net computations

Expressions for flow net computations can be formulated. Let us consider a flow net for an
aquifer and try to find an expression for the flow through a stream tube. Using the Darcy
equation the groundwater flow through the tube can be approximated by taking into
consideration the hydraulic gradient for a discrete distance, the width of the stream tube and the
depth of the aquifer as follows:

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