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Civil and Environmental Engineering
Rice University
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° the velocity or flow rate moving within the aquifer
° the average time of travel from the head of the
aquifer to a point located downstream
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° arcy¶s law provides an

accurate description of the flow
of ground water in almost all
hydrogeologic environments.
  

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Ô

 
  
|
 
°
enri arcy established empirically that the
flux of water through a permeable formation
is proportional to the distance between top
and bottom of the soil column.
° he constant of proportionality is called the
2


 þ
.

°  = Q/A,  j   h, and  j 1/

|
 

-  2
and since
D -    

D   
2

(

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%
° represents a measure of the ability for flow
through porous media:

° ravels - 0.1 to 1 cm/sec

° ands - 10-2 to 10-3 cm/sec

° ilts - 10-4 to 10-5 cm/sec

° Clays - 10-7 to 10-9 cm/sec

$
 
° arcy¶s
aw holds for:

1. aturated flow and unsaturated flow

2. teady-state and transient flow
3. Flow in aquifers and aquitards
4. Flow in homogeneous and
heterogeneous systems
5. Flow in isotropic or anisotropic media
6. Flow in rocks and granular media
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& 
° - is the specific discharge þ† arcy velocity
.
° þ 
indicates that - occurs in the direction of
the decreasing head.
° pecific discharge has units of velocity.
° he specific discharge is a macroscopic
concept, and is easily measured. It should be
noted that arcy¶s velocity is different «.
|
& 
° ...from the microscopic velocities
associated with the actual paths if
individual particles of water as they wind
their way through the grains of sand.

° he microscopic velocities are real, but

are probably impossible to measure.
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'( )& 
° arcy velocity is a fictitious velocity
since it assumes that flow occurs across
the entire cross-section of the soil
sample. Flow actually takes place only
through interconnected pore channels.

ð 


ð
 
|
'( )& 

° From the Continuity Eqn:

° Q =   - -

  here:
D = flow rate
= total cross-sectional area of
material
-= area of voids
-
= seepage velocity
-= arcy velocity
|
'( )& 
° herefore: - -   -
° ultiplying both sides by the length of the
medium þ

- -   - ----
° here:
- = total volume
-- = void volume
° y efinition, -- 
, the soil porosity

° hus &( *&|+

   ,

 
 

° escription of ground water flow is based on:

arcy¶s
aw

Continuity Equation - describes

conservation of fluid mass
during flow through a porous
medium; results in a partial
differential equation of flow.

°
aplace¶s Eqn - most important in math

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° A confined aquifer has a source of recharge.
° for the aquifer is 50 m/day, and n is 0.2.
° he piezometric head in two wells 1000 m
apart is 55 m and 50 m respectively, from a
common datum.
° he average thickness of the aquifer is 30
m, and the average width of aquifer is 5 km.
 $ 
° a
the rate of flow through the aquifer
° þb
the average time of travel from the head of the
aquifer to a point 4 km downstream
° ÿ






 



 ± 
° Cross-ectional area=
30þ5
þ1000
= 15 x 104 m2
°
ydraulic gradient =
þ55-50
/1000 = 5 x 10-3
° Rate of Flow for = 50 m/day
Q = þ50 m/day
þ75 x 101 m2

= 37,500 m3/day
° arcy elocity:
 = Q/A = þ37,500m3/day
/ þ15
x 104 m2
= 0.25m/day
And ° eepage elocity:
s = /n = þ0.25
/ þ0.2
=
1.25 m/day þabout 4.1 ft/day

° ime to travel 4 km downstream:

 = 4þ1000m
/ þ1.25m/day
=
3200 days or 8.77 years

° 2

2 
2 


 
  

 


   
|
 

1. For Reynold¶s Number, Re, > 10 or where the flow
is turbulent, as in the immediate vicinity of pumped
wells.

2. here water flows through extremely fine-grained

materials þcolloidal clay

 

Example 2
° A channel runs almost parallel to a river, and they
are 2000 ft apart.
° he water level in the river is at an elevation of 120
ft and 110ft in the channel.
° A pervious formation averaging 30 ft thick and with
 of 0.25 ft/hr joins them.
° etermine the rate of seepage or flow from the
river to the channel.
!


 


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   ð 
"

*å"
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° Consider a 1-ft length of river þand channel
.
D  2  2!"

° here:
= þ30 x 1
= 30 ft2
 = þ0.25 ft/hr
þ24 hr/day
= 6 ft/day

° herefore,
Q = [6 þ30
þ120   110
 / 2000
= 0.9 ft3/day/ft length = 0.9 ft2/day
O


 Ô

!


2
O
° Apply arcy¶s
aw to find :
- D  2
or:
 - 2
° here:
- = volume flowing in time 
= cross-sectional area of the sample
 = length of sample
2 = constant head
°  = time of flow