Content

This course is taught at Vrije Universiteit Brussel.

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- Fundamentals: groundwater and the hydrologic cycle, occurrence of underground water, basic properties of ground bearing layers: porosity, water content, groundwater potential, flux and velocity, Darcy's law, measurement techniques for groundwater potential and conductivity;
- Natural groundwater flow: hydro-geological classification of ground layers, aquifer types, groundwater flow systems, unsaturated zone, saturated groundwater flow and storage in artesian and phreatic aquifers and in aquitards, the hydraulic groundwater flow approach and the flow net theory;
- Groundwater flow equations and useful solutions: mass balance equation, general groundwater flow equation in three dimensions and boundary conditions, hydrostatics, unsaturated flow, saturated flow and water table boundary conditions, the horizontal flow approach, Dupuit equation;
- Groundwater abstraction techniques: advantages of groundwater use, abstraction techniques: wells and galleries, principles of well flow: drawdown, cone of depression, radius of influence, maximum and specific capacity, interference between wells and aquifer boundaries, design of well fields, safe yield and groundwater management;
- Pumping test analysis: practical aspects of pumping tests, analysis of pumping test in confined, semi-confined, phreatic aquifers and fractured rocks, analyses of recovery tests;
- Groundwater modelling: basics of finite difference techniques, finite difference solution for aquifer flow, basics of finite element techniques, finite element solution for aquifer flow, introduction to well known groundwater flow models; and
- Groundwater chemistry: groundwater chemical constituents and main processes, oxygen status and organic matter decay in unsaturated and saturated groundwater layers, mineral dissolution and ion evolution cycle, groundwater isotopes, groundwater pollution sources and major pollutants, measurement techniques and interpretation and classification of water types, groundwater quality assessment and protection techniques.
Practical
- Laboratory and fields measurement techniques: determination of porosity, water content, density, hydraulic conductivity and permeability of soil samples, field measurement techniques for determining hydraulic conductivity: interpretation of slug tests in auger holes and piezometers;
- Flow net analyses using piezometric data and field reconnaissance for hydro-geological mapping and interpretation; Analyses of groundwater flow and balance in confined and phreatic aquifers using piezometric readings and solutions of groundwater flow equations;
- Analyses and interpretation of drawdown around pumping wells and influence of well interference, aquifer boundaries, and induced recharge by rivers;  Design of groundwater sustainable pumping wells and well fields;  Analyses of pumping test experiments: application of graphical techniques for the Theis and Jacob methods, graphical interpretation technique for a recovery test; and
- Interpretation of groundwater chemical data: representation in Stiff and Piper diagrams, classification of water types and identification of chemical evolution, estimates of pollution spreading.

Course material

• book: Groundwater Science by Charles Fitts
• lecture slides
• exercises manual

Format: more information

30 hours lecture + 30 hours exercise sessions (practicals) + 4 take-home assignments