Engineering Geology

Engineering Geology

The drawdown cone of influence zone in water wells in unconfined alluvial aquifers and the influence of physical parameters of the aquifer on it

Authors
Amin Ahmadi 1
Gholamreza Mirzavand 1
Maryam Zebarjad 2
1 Department of Civil Engineering, Dezful Branch, Islamic Azad University, Dezful, Iran
2 Department of physics, Dezful Branch, Islamic Azad University, Dezful, Iran
10.22034/JEG.2023.17.3.1019242
Abstract
The zone of influence of the well is the area where the activity of the well changes the water level. The zone of influence is important in determining the protection zones; however, in this regard, reliable relationships have not yet been presented and their lack of relationship has not been confirmed; and this is due to the lack of accurate knowledge of the zone of influence in some aquifers. This study was carried out using the MODFLOW model to know the effect of aquifer physical parameters on the drawdown cone in an unconfined alluvial aquifer with a sloping water surface; and since no such research has been reported so far, the results are innovative. The results showed that although it is possible to ignore the effect of a well in parts of the aquifer due to measurement and presentation limitations, in practice the influence zone of each well will extend to the outer physical boundaries. It was found that two types of real and theoretical drawdown cones can be discussed in the influence zone and each should be analyzed separately. It was found that parameters such as hydraulic conductivity, saturation thickness, transmissivity, horizontal anisotropy, bed slope, and amount of recharge in sloping unconfined aquifers have a dual effect on the drawdown cone, and if their high values decrease the drawdown in short distances, they increase the drawdown in long distances. It was found that normal heterogeneity does not change much on the drawdown cone, and the reason is the opposite effects of hydraulic conductivity and specific yield on the drawdown value. It was found that hydraulic conductivity, horizontal anisotropy and specific yield have a strong effect, but vertical anisotropy and heterogeneity have a negligible effect on the drawdown cone.
Keywords
Influence Zone
Influence radius
Drawdown cone
Water well
Protection Zone
MODFLOW
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