Physical Modeling of Flow Nets in Groundwater and Determination of Hydraulic Conductivity

Authors

Hannah Nicholas, University of Nevada, Las VegasFollow
Moses Karakouzian, University of Nevada, Las VegasFollow

Funder

Center for Academic Enrichment and Outreach

Document Type

Poster

Publication Date

9-21-2018

Publisher

University of Nevada, Las Vegas; Center for Academic Enrichment and Outreach

Publisher Location

Las Vegas (Nev.)

Abstract

The goal of this study is to physically model the paths that water particles take through soil, and estimate hydraulic conductivity for several soil configurations. Water paths, or flow lines, are shown by injecting dye into sand contained in a rectangular acrylic glass tank with a vertical barrier in the center; water is poured on one side of the tank and a pump is used to maintain constant head loss. If flow lines are formed, a flow net is to be drawn using photos of the tank and hydraulic conductivity is to be calculated.

This project consists of four phases: design, construction, testing, and analysis. At the time of this report, the design phase is complete and the construction phase is active. Upon completion of the construction phase, testing will begin using four configurations of sand. Sand variables include coarse or fine sand types, and loose or dense sand placement in the tank. Tests consist of injecting potassium permanganate, referred to mainly as “dye” in this study, into the sand surface in two parallel lines running laterally across the tank. Water is then poured on one side of the acrylic glass barrier, and water outflow on the opposite side of the tank is measured. During the analysis phase, which follows directly after testing, hydraulic conductivity is calculated as described in the Methodology section. If possible, a flow net will be drawn as described in the Background Information and Methodology sections. Hydraulic conductivity calculations will be compared to theoretical values for different types of sand and percent differences are calculated. Discrepancies in hydraulic conductivity will demonstrate how closely experimental sand resembles ideal coarse and fine sand. If a flow net is drawn, the applicability of Darcy’s law will be explored and discussed.

Keywords

Groundwater; Darcy's Law; Hydraulic conductivity; Model; Flow; Flow net

Disciplines

Civil Engineering | Geotechnical Engineering | Hydraulic Engineering

File Format

pdf

File Size

276 KB

Language

English

Rights

IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Repository Citation

Nicholas, H., Karakouzian, M. (2018). Physical Modeling of Flow Nets in Groundwater and Determination of Hydraulic Conductivity.
Available at: https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/aanapisi_posters/46