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Lecture

Groundwater: Modeling and Analysis

In course

ENV-221: Hydrology for engineers

This is an introductory course to key concepts and methods in physical and engineering hydrology. ...

Description

This lecture by the instructor covers the mathematical modeling of groundwater systems, including the concepts of continuity and momentum balance, isotropy, and aquifer properties. The lecture delves into the analysis of confined and unconfined aquifers, drawdown curves, and transient well hydraulics. Various equations and solutions are presented, such as Theis' equation for confined aquifers and methods for determining hydraulic conductivity and storage coefficient. Practical applications, like well pumping tests and the effects of recharge boundaries, are also discussed.

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Instructors (3)

Paolo Benettin

I was born in Padova, Italy, in 1986. After high school, I started the Environmental Engineering program at the University of Padova (Bachelor and Master), where I followed the 'soil protection' curriculum. During my Master studies I spent a semester as Erasmus student at Wageningen University (Wageningen, the Netherlands) to follow courses in Hydrology. After graduation, I decided to bring my education further and I started a Ph.D. at the civil and environmental engineering department at the University of Padova. My Ph.D. thesis focused on hydrologic transport and travel time distributions at the catchment scale. My contribution to the subject included both new theoretical formulations and extensive numerical applications to real catchments. During my Ph.D., I also spent 7 months as visiting research fellow at Virginia Tech University (Blacksburg, USA). Since I arrived at EPFL as post-doc in 2015, I started being involved in field and experimental activities, which allowed me to learn about practical experimental problems. In 2017 I had the opportunity to by hired by the ECHO laboratory as a permanent scientist, conducting research in the field of catchment hydrology.

Sara Bonetti

Andrea Rinaldo

Official source

Ontological neighbourhood

Civil engineering

Hydrology: Hydrogeology

Related concepts (32)

Aquifer test

In hydrogeology, an aquifer test (or a pumping test) is conducted to evaluate an aquifer by "stimulating" the aquifer through constant pumping, and observing the aquifer's "response" (drawdown) in observation wells. Aquifer testing is a common tool that hydrogeologists use to characterize a system of aquifers, aquitards and flow system boundaries. A slug test is a variation on the typical aquifer test where an instantaneous change (increase or decrease) is made, and the effects are observed in the same well.

Aquifer

An aquifer is an underground layer of water-bearing, permeable rock, rock fractures, or unconsolidated materials (gravel, sand, or silt). Groundwater from aquifers can be extracted using a water well. Water from aquifers can be sustainably harvested through the use of qanats. Aquifers vary greatly in their characteristics. The study of water flow in aquifers and the characterization of aquifers is called hydrogeology.

Fossil water

Fossil water or paleowater is an ancient body of water that has been contained in some undisturbed space, typically groundwater in an aquifer, for millennia. Other types of fossil water can include subglacial lakes, such as Antarctica's Lake Vostok, and even ancient water on other planets. UNESCO defines fossil groundwater as water that infiltrated usually millennia ago and often under climatic conditions different from the present, and that has been stored underground since that time.

Groundwater flow equation

Used in hydrogeology, the groundwater flow equation is the mathematical relationship which is used to describe the flow of groundwater through an aquifer. The transient flow of groundwater is described by a form of the diffusion equation, similar to that used in heat transfer to describe the flow of heat in a solid (heat conduction). The steady-state flow of groundwater is described by a form of the Laplace equation, which is a form of potential flow and has analogs in numerous fields.

Well test

In hydrology, a well test is conducted to evaluate the amount of water that can be pumped from a particular water well. More specifically, a well test will allow prediction of the maximum rate at which water can be pumped from a well, and the distance that the water level in the well will fall for a given pumping rate and duration of pumping. Well testing differs from aquifer testing in that the behaviour of the well is primarily of concern in the former, while the characteristics of the aquifer (the geological formation or unit that supplies water to the well) are quantified in the latter.

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