SIMPLE METHOD FOR CONFINED-AQUIFER PARAMETERS ESTIMATION

Abstract Most of the time initial drawdown data, for which the well function variable u is greater than the 0.01, have not been considered important during evaluation of aquifer parameters. But this paper introduces a simple method to determine the aquifer parameters using early drawdown data clearly. This method gives accurate values of aquifer parameters for u near to 0.43. This method does not need matching curves, initial guess, or any check whether the u value is <0.01 or not, and the all computations can be done by calculator. By applying this method on data available on literatures to estimate the aquifer parameters with taking into account just few initial drawdowns shows a better result than those obtained by Theis curve matching while considering all data. This method meets the Cooper Jacob method when we consider late drawdowns. Thus, this method is also able to analyze late drawdown data. Introduction Today evaluation of aquifer parameters (T&S) by pump test data become very common field of research. There are too many methods available for analyzing the pump test data such as conventional and computer based. Even these days with more powerful computers the non-computer methods give better results than computer based methods. Also most of conventional methods have their simplicity, easy computations and on-site applicability. The Cooper and Jacob method (1946), which analyses the pump test data for aquifer parameters, is very simple and widely used. But, it has two main limitations; the data in which the argument u of well function is greater than 0.01 are not utilized and its subjective judgment is more for considering the data points to fit a straight line, which requires trial and error. In practical, most of the time the pump tests have considerable data having u>0.01, particularly when the pump test is for short time and the observation well is at a large distance from the pumping well. It is because of the popularity of the Cooper-Jocob method that the data having u>0.01 have been neglected or considered unimportant. In this paper it is shown that the data having u>0.01 can be analyzed for estimating the aquifer parameters accurately. Early drawdown data which have u>0.01 especially near to 0.43 are used in this method to estimate T & S without being damaged by hydrological boundaries. Also, sometimes it is not possible to have long duration pump test because of pump failure, time and resource constraints. The Cooper-Jacob method cannot estimate the aquifer parameters for the data that have mostly early drawdowns which have u>0.01 and also, the curve-matching method of Theis (1935) involves more subjectivity of judging on best matching between the observed and theoretical curves, particularly when only early drawdowns are considered. This simple method uses few early drawdowns to estimate confined aquifer parameters very accurately. This method enables estimation of aquifers parameters from short duration pump tests or initial data recorded from an incomplete test which may be considered inappropriate for estimation of aquifer parameters by other methods such as Theis or Cooper-Jacob. Calculations of this method are very easy and can be done on site and also, it meets the Cooper-Jacob method when the late drawdowns are considered. Proposed Method This method has the same assumptions as Theis, Cooper-Jacob that the aquifer should be assumed homogenous, isotropic and infinite areal extend. The drawdown s at an observation well resulting from pumping well with negligible storage drilled through full thickness of the aquifer, is given by (Thies 1935)

Where

Q= constant rate of pumping (m^3/sec); W (u) =well function in groundwater literature (Bear 1972); =t/r^2; t= time since pumping is started (sec); r=distance of the observation of from the pumping well (m). Divide (1) by

When s is plotted against , a bell shaped curve is obtained for early drawdown data. Let the peak of the curve be ( / ) and be the time at which the peak occurs. Differentiating (3) with respect to and equating to zero, the following characteristics of the peak are obtained.

Substituting (5) and (4) in (1) and (2), respectively, the following expressions for the aquifer parameters are obtained:

There is one condition for identifying the peak from s versus curve, that is, at least there will be one point having u>0.4348. For the early drawdowns recorded at a shorter time interval, the peak can be accurately located by drawing a smooth curve through a few points near the peak. By knowing and , we can calculate = . Once the and values are known, T and S can be calculated from (6) and (7). This method needs a few early drawdowns and requires less subjectivity for locating the peak point compared to curve matching. Accuracy of the T and S values depend on accuracy of the locating peak point on s versus graph. For single observation well, s/t is plotted against t and the peak ( , / ) are specified by drawing a smooth curve through the points. can be calculated by product of the coordinate points at the peak. can be 2 obtained by relation of /r . From (6) and (7) easily can be understood that, the are inverse measure of the T and T/S (aquifer diffusivity), respectively. This shows that / is an inverse measure of storage coefficient. Hence, (1) can be rewritten in terms of and as follows:

If the peak could not be located on either an s/ versus (multiple observation wells) or s/t versus t (single observation well) curve, the parameters can be obtained from the late drawdowns for which u<0.01. For this case (8) may be written

It shows that when s is plotted against t or , a straight line is obtained on a semi log graph with t or on the log axis. Therefore, the present method converges to Cooper-Jacob method for u<0.01. The parameters and or are given as follows:

Where = intersection of line on the x-axis giving s=0. In fitting the straight line, data for which u<0.01 should not be considered. Using of equation (8) for predicting leaky aquifer drawdowns shows a large deviation from the observed ones. The hydrologic boundary conditions (e.g., a recharge boundary or an impervious boundary) effect can also be identified by this method from late drawdowns in same manner similar to the Cooper-Jacob method. Therefore, this method is able to recognize the non-ideal aquifer conditions. Application and Discussion This method has been applied on two sets of pump test data. The first set of data is as follows: r1=30.49m, r2=60.98m, r3=121.95m, Q=4.5852m^3/min (at constant rate), and the second set is as follows: r1=121.95m, r2=243.90m, Q (constant rate) =1.8892m^3/min. For first set of data, r2=60.98m the values of s/t versus t is plotted and shown in Fig. 1. The peak is located and the values of and are identified by drawing a smooth curve through points. The estimated values of the aquifer parameters are calculated in the same manner as described above for single observation well and given in Table 1 with its comparison to the estimated values done by Theis and Cooper-Jacob. The comparison was made based on integral squared errors (ISEs) between the observed and computed drawdowns using estimated values of the aquifer parameters. Again for both set of data for a few early drawdowns, analysis has done by considering multiple observation wells. The data have plotted in fig. 2 (, and s/ ), and the values of and are obtained by manually drawn curve through plotted points. The same thing has done for second set of data but not shown here. The estimated values of aquifer parameters are shown in Table 2 with their ISEs. Although the estimates of the aquifer parameters by this method were obtained using a few early drawdowns, the ISE for the present method was calculated considering all data including late drawdowns which were not used in estimation. The ISEs for the Cooper-Jacob and Theis method are obtained with the estimates of the aquifer parameters using all data in both cases. Therefore, the ISEs for this method are the measure of true validation, whereas the ISEs for Theis and Cooper-Jacob do not reflect the real validation. So, low ISEs for present method shows how well the early and late drawdowns are reproduced; with the aquifer parameters obtained using only a few early drawdowns. Good reproduction of the late drawdowns and low values of the ISEs show that the present method gives trustworthy estimates of aquifer parameters. This method also can give reliable estimates of the parameters from early drawdowns observed during an abandoned pump test, which may be inappropriate for reliable estimates of aquifer parameters by other methods.

Conclusions A simple method for accurately estimation of aquifer parameters by using a few early drawdown data at an observation well with u>0.01 is presented in this paper, to make use of early drawdowns or initial data recorded from and abandoned pump test, which are incomplete data for other methods. This method does not require curve matching or initial guess for parameters. The method meets the Cooper-Jacob method for late drawdowns having u<0.01; therefore, the late drawdown data can also be analyzed by this method. Main conclusions derived from this paper are as follows: A simple method for determination of confined aquifer parameters is presented. Using of this method needs much shorter duration of pump test, thus, saves time and money. It is able to identified leaky aquifer condition from late drawdowns. Its applicability needs at least one point having u value >0.44. Application of this method on published data shows that the aquifer parameters can be estimated more accurately even when only a few early drawdowns are used. Initial drawdowns observed during an abandoned pump test, may be utilized to achieve more accurate values of confined aquifer parameters.

Prepared by: Ahmad Mansoor Mansoori Under Guidance of: Dr. P. Raja Sekhar