Premium
Groundwater flow in an inhomogeneous aquifer
Author(s) -
Kuiper L. K.
Publication year - 1972
Publication title -
water resources research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.863
H-Index - 217
eISSN - 1944-7973
pISSN - 0043-1397
DOI - 10.1029/wr008i003p00722
Subject(s) - hydraulic conductivity , groundwater , aquifer , constant (computer programming) , isotropy , groundwater flow , hydraulic head , flow (mathematics) , geometry , geology , physics , thermodynamics , mathematics , soil science , geotechnical engineering , soil water , optics , computer science , programming language
An analytic solution is obtained for the groundwater head in a confined inhomogeneous and isotropic aquifer of constant thickness. The vertical z and horizontal y direction components of the groundwater flow are assumed to be zero. The specific storage S s is assumed to be a constant, but the hydraulic conductivity K is taken to be K = k o [1 − ( x/a )], where k o and α are constants. Initial and boundary conditions imposed on the groundwater head h(x, t) are h(x, 0) = 0 for 0 < x ≤ a and h(0, t ≥ 0) = h o , where h o is a constant. The solution for h(x, t) is found for 0 ≤ x ≤ a and t > 0. The solution is compared graphically with the solution for the case where K = k o and an impermeable boundary exists at x = a . The comparison shows that h(x, t) approaches its final value h o more rapidly for K = k o than for K = k o [1 − ( x/a )].