The dipole flow test: A new single‐borehole test for aquifer characterization

A new single‐borehole measurement technique for confined aquifers, the dipole flow test, yields the vertical distributions of the horizontal hydraulic conductivity, the vertical hydraulic conductivity, and the specific storativity when applied to different borehole intervals. The test utilizes straddle packers to isolate two chambers in the borehole, pressure transducers to monitor drawdown in them, and a small pump to create a dipole flow pattern in the aquifer by pumping water at a constant rate from the aquifer into one chamber, transferring it within the well to the next chamber, and finally injecting it back to the aquifer. A mathematical model describing the drawdown in each chamber is derived for the transient as well as the steady state cases. The aquifer parameters may be estimated from data produced by the dipole flow test alone or in conjunction with conventional pumping tests. The dipole flow regime reaches a steady state relatively quickly, especially in well permeable aquifers. A robust computational methodology for estimating the aquifer parameters, suitable for automatization, is based on the Newton‐Raphson algorithm applied to a system of up to three nonlinear equations, each describing the well drawdown at a different judiciously chosen time. Due to the relatively small drawdown it invokes, the dipole flow test may be applicable to unconfined aquifers as well.