Geosc 452

Problem Set #2: Porosity, Hydraulic Conductivity & Darcy (Due 9/15/2011)

Show all work, box your final answer, and mind your significant figures. 42 points total. 1. A sample of soil has a total volume of 200 cm3. The soil when saturated weighs 335 g. A specific yield test is conducted on the soil by allowing the sample to drain for 24 hours. After drainage the sample weighs 309 g. The soil was then dried and weighed 294 g. What are the specific yield [2 pts], specific retention [2 pts], and porosity [2 pts] of the sample? 2. An aquifer has the following properties: K = 0.0002 cm/s, hydraulic gradient = -0.15, a cross-sectional area = 20,000 ft2 and a porosity of 0.25. Calculate: a) k (cm2) [2 pts] b) k (darcys) [2 pts] c) specific discharge (cm/s) [2 pts] d) discharge (gpm) [2 pts] e) ave linear velocity (ft/d) [2 pts]

3. Think about the Darcy experiment we conducted in class. a) To increase the volumetric discharge, what properties of the material could be altered? [2 pts] b) To increase the volumetric discharge, what properties of the fluid could be altered? [2 pts] c) To increase the volumetric discharge, what properties of the experimental setup could be altered? Will changing the orientation of the column (vertically to horizontally, for instance) impact the result? Why or why not? [2 pts] 4. Youve been hired as a hydrogeologist to determine the transport of a contamination plume at a local site. Three monitoring wells are installed at this site, which is underlain by a sandy unconfined aquifer. During the installation of the wells, soil samples were analyzed in permeameters for K and also for bulk density; these data are given in Table 2. Water levels at the monitoring wells were measured and given in Table 1. Your job is to a) estimate the porosity of the aquifer [2 pts], b) estimate the hydraulic conductivity [3 pts], c) find the hydraulic gradient [10 pts], and then finally, d) estimate how far the advective front (v*t) has traveled and its coordinate location assuming the contaminant source is at the location of well A and that the contamination began 16 years ago [5 pts]. (Note: Look at the in-class problem and Fetter if you are struggling!) Table 1 Well field data. Location (ft) Ground Elevation (ft AMSL) Depth to Water (ft) Well A 1000E, 1000S 585 75 Well B 3000E, 2000S 510 21 Well C 1500E, 3000S 553 59

Table 2 Geotechnical test results: Dry bulk density: 1.70 g/cm3 Density of solids: 2.65 g/cm3 Constant head permeameter test: Core length: 15.24 cm Core diameter: 5 cm

Permeameter (Darcy tube) data: Q(cm3/s) head (cm) 0.0258 2 0.064 5 0.103 8