GROUNDWATER ENGINEERING
CE 76509
Course Objectives:
Groundwater Engineering is the first course in the physics of saturated flow in porous media with engineering applications. The course includes topics such as ground-water occurrence and Darcian flow, well hydraulics, pumping tests for finding aquifer parameters, overview of methods for groundwater explorations, tube.well construction methods and design, pump selection for lifting groundwater and economics of groundwater utilization. Moreover, the course gives an overview of groundwater resources of Nepal.

  1. Occurrence of Groundwater and its Importance
    (5 hours)
    1. Hydrological cycle and groundwater, Origin and age of groundwater, Groundwater basins, springs, and their types, Characteristics of groundwater its comparison and relation with surface water, Basic definitions of terms in groundwater hydrology with illustrations: Aquifer, Aquiclude, Aquifuge, Aquitard,Types of aquifer with illustrations- confined, unconfined, leaky, perched, Properties of soil/rock affecting groundwater flow: porosity, storage coefficient, specific yield
  2. Fundamentals of Groundwater Motion
    (8 hours)
    1. Review of continuum approach and REV with specific reference to groundwater flow, Darcy's experiment and empirical expression of Darcy's law and its extension with 3-d generalization, Range of validity of Darcy's law and examples of non-Darcian flow in sub-surface, Definition of hydraulic conductivity, permeability (with their typical values), aquifer transmissivity, aquifer heterogeneity and an isotropy
  3. Potential Groundwater Flow Theory and Flow Net Analysis
    (8 hours)
    1. Plotting stream lines, equipotential lines, and flow net in groundwater, direction of groundwater flow from piezometric head observations, analysis of water table maps , Derivation of Laplace equation and its use in steady groundwater flow in isotropic and anisotropic media. Application of potential flow theory in steady one dimensional flow in homogeneous unconfined aquifer, horizontal galleries extending up to impervious rock and aquifer with recharge; steady flow in a confine aquifer of constant and variable thickness.
  4. Well Hydraulics
    (4 hours)
    1. Steady and unsteady radial flow in fully and partially penetrating non-leaky wells, Introduction of Multiple well systems and Interference of wells
  5. Pumping Test and Estimation of Aquifer Properties
    (5 hours)
    1. Use of Pumping tests in Groundwater hydrology, overview of types of pumping tests, Theis method for unsteady flow in unconfined, and confined non-leaky aquifers, Thiem's equilibrium formula for steady flow in unconfined aquifer, Jacob's time-drawdown and distance-drawdown methods for unsteady flow in non-leaky confined aquifer
  6. Overview of Groundwater Exploration
    (2 hours)
    1. Objectives of groundwater exploration, Overview of methods of groundwater exploration, Water Winching, Geological, geophysical, electrical resistivity, seismic refraction methods
  7. Water Well Design
    (5 hours)
    1. Classification of wells and tube-wells, Design considerations in wells in confined and unconfined aquifer: well diameter, well depth, well screens (slot size, screen diameter, types and selection of screen), gravel pack design, Overview of design principle of collector wells and infiltration galleries
  8. Pumps for Groundwater Lifting
    (4 hours)
    1. Types of pumps, Overview of working principle and suitability of plunger, jet, deep-well vertical turbine, submersible, air-lift and centrifugal pumps,Factors to be considered in the selection of pump sets
  9. Groundwater Resources of Nepal
    (3 hours)
    1. Kathmandu Valley and Terai aquifers: Schematic zones showing water availability and development possibility

Tutorial:

  1. Fundamentals of groundwater motion
    (4 hours)
  2. Potential groundwater flow theory and Flow Net analysis
    (4 hours)
  3. Well hydraulics
    (2 hours)
  4. Pumping test and estimation of aquifer properties
    (2 hours)
  5. Water well design
    (3 hours)

Field visit and project work:
Field visit to any drilling site or groundwater development project in Kathmandu or other areas. Students are also encouraged to visit drilling companies on their own to gain practical knowledge on hydrogeology. Also, assignment with project works related with ground water modeling is encouraged in the course.
References:

  1. H. M. Raghunath, "Groundwater", New Age International Publishers.
  2. David Keith Todd, "Groundwater Hydrology".
  3. Jacob Bear, "Hydraulics of Groundwater", McGraw-Hill, Inc.
  4. Department of Interior, Bureau of Reclamation, "Handbook of Groundwater Development", John Wiley & Sons. U.S.
  5. "Study of Groundwater Development: Strategies for Irrigation in the Terai, Volume 3", Groundwater, Groundwater Development Consultants (International) Limited, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
  6. "Groundwater Management Project in the Kathmandu Valley. Final report', Main report. Japan International Cooperation Agency. 1990.

Evaluation Scheme:
The questions will cover all the chapters in the syllabus. The evaluation scheme will be as indicated in the table below:

Chapter

Hours

Marks Distribution*

1

5

4

2

8

16

3

8

16

4

4

8

5

5

8

6

2

4

7

6

10

8

4

8

9

3

6

Total

45

80

*There could be minor deviation in mark distribution.

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