• 096948 - GROUNDWATER HYDRAULICS [1.ST MOD.]

GROUNDWATER HYDRUALICS (both Modules)

Course objectives and expected learning outcomes: to learn about physical, chemical and hydrologic factors that control the dynamics of groundwater. Students will develop the ability to investigate groundwater systems and to solve problems in applied hydrogeology at laboratory and field scales.

Groundwater and Aquifers. Classification of aquifers. Soil matrix properties. Heterogeneity and anisotropy. Modeling concepts. Modeling process. Pore and continuum approach. Groundwater flow and leakage. Regional groundwater balance.

Groundwater Motion. Darcy’s law: empirical law, extension to the three-dimensional space. Tensorial nature of conductivity. Permeability. Porosity. Range of validity of Darcy’s law. Aquifer transmissivity. Dupuit assumption for phreatic aquifer.

Groundwater Flow Model: Mass balance equations. Deformable porous medium. Specific storativity. Complete 3D mathematical flow model. Initial and boundary conditions. Modeling 2D flow in confined and unconfined aquifers. Multilayered aquifer-aquitard system. Analytical solutions for homogeneous systems. Superimposition. Groundwater maps and streamlines.

Hydraulic of pumping and recharging wells: Steady and unsteady flow to a well in a confined, phreatic and leaky confined aquifer. Partially penetrating wells. Multiple well systems. Wells near boundaries and method of images. Well losses and specific well discharge. Effect of wellbore storage. Pumping tests. Type curves

Modeling Contaminant transport: Contaminant fluxes: advective flux, diffusive flux, hydrodynamic dispersion, dispersive flux, dispersion coefficient and dispersivity, field-scale heterogeneity. Derivation of Advection-dispersion equation. Diffusion versus dispersion. Balance equation for multi- species. Condition for chemical equilibrium, chemical reactions, adoption, ion exchange, precipitation-dissolution. Complete mathematical model with sources. Initial and boundary conditions. Analytical solutions. Laboratory and field tests to determine dispersivity. Scale effect of dispersion. Double porosity models. Remediation techniques.

MODULE 2 – 3 credits

Modeling under uncertainty: Stochastic processes. Ensemble statistics. Ergodicity. Tools for uncertainty analysis: geostatistics, kriging, sensitivity analyses. Stochastic description of hererogeneity. Monte Carlo simulation, generation of a random fields. Effective and equivalent parameters.

Inverse models. General formulation of non-linear inverse problems in porous media. Model calibration. Interpretation of pumping and tracer tests. Gradient based methods.

The final oral exam includes a discussion on test cases examined during the practical sessions.