LECTURE # 10-11

o Movement of water through an aquifer

perform three functions;

1. Energy potential

2. Storage function, and

3. Conduit function.
 To better understand that, how these
groundwater(confined or un-confined)
functions, it is necessary to examine the forms
of energy it contains.
 The total energy in any water consists of three
components;
I. Pressure,
II. Velocity, and
III. Elevation head.
 Sum of the energy potential (H) is expressed
by the Bernoulli’s equation;

P V2
H   Z
 2g
 Where,
 P= pressure
 r= specific weight of water
 V= velocity of flow
 g= acceleration due to gravity
 Z= elevation above certain datum
 In above equation;
• p/r= pressure head energy contained in the
water mass that can attributed to the force
confining the water
• V2 /2g= velocity head, energy component
resulting from the movement of the water,
• Z= elevation head, latent form of energy,
when water allowed to rise or fall.
 As the water moves from one site to another
site, it will loose some part of energy.
 This loss of energy can be expressed as;
P1 V12 P2 V22
 Z    Z  HL
 2g  2g
 Where,
 HL = loss of head energy caused by water
movement from one place to another place.
 In underground situation, the flow velocity
is slow, so the velocity energy can be
neglected in computing the total energy
contained in groundwater.
 Therefore, the Bernoulli’s equation
becomes;
P1 P2
H  Z1   Z2  H L
 
 Water at any depth, in an unconfined
aquifer is under high pressure exerted by
the overlying water and atmospheric
pressure.
 Thus, the depth of the water column Z,
represents the only form of energy actually
available that can be converted to pressure
energy to drive water through an aquifer
material into well
 The amount of energy required to move the
water for certain distance through the
groundwater system can be determined by
the equation;

H  Z1  Z 2  H L
 There are three important characteristics of
an aquifer related to the storage function,
thy are;
i. Porosity(п)

ii. Specific yield (Sy)

iii. Specific retention(Sr)