Saturated Flow Governing Equations

for Unconfined Flow

1. Dupuit Assumption

– In an unconfined aquifer, water table is also the upper boundary of the region of flow
– Consider a water-table aquifer on a horizontal impermeable layer. Along the direction of flow,
the saturated thickness becomes smaller and the hydraulic gradient greater
– Dupuit Assumption:

(1) The hydraulic gradient equals the slope of the water table
(2) for small water-table gradients, the flow lines are horizontal and the equipotential lines are
vertical

2. Dupuit Equation

From Darcy’s law

(1)

h - saturated thickness, x = 0, h = h1; x = L, h = h2

Integrating Eq 1 with boundary conditions yields

Rearranging leads to the Dupuit equation

(2)

qN - flow per unit width [L2 T!1]

K - hydraulic conductivity [L T!1]
h1, h2 - head at the origin and L, respectively [L]
L - flow length [L]

3. Governing Equation for Unconfined Flow

Consider a small prism of an unconfined aquifer with no flow in z-direction (Dupuit assumption).
The total flow in x-direction thru the left face is

1
 dy - width of the face of the prism

The discharge thru the right face is

Note has different values at each face. The change in x-direction between the two faces is

Similarly, the change in flow rate in y-direction is

For steady-state flow, any change in flow thru the prism must equal a gain or loss of water across the
water table (e.g. infiltration or ET)

Let the net addition or loss rate be w [L T!1], the volume change within the initial volume is

6 =

Dropping and combining the differentials 6

(3)

If w = 0, Eq 3 reduces to Laplace eq

(4)

If flow is in one direction only, Eq 3 becomes

(5)

Integrating Eq 5 leads to

2
 (6)

Applying boundary conditions x = 0, h = h1; x = L, h = h2 gives

(7)

or

(8)

Eq 8 gives the elevation of the water table anywhere between two points located L distance apart if
the saturated thickness of the aquifer is known at the two end points

If w = 0, Eq 8 reduces to

(9)

Differentiating Eq 7 and realizing 6

(10)