Question
If $d$ is the depth of an aquifer through which water is flowing, then the relationship between permeability $K$ and transmissibility (also known as transmissivity) $T$ is given by ________.
The correct answer is
$T = Kd$
Aquifer Transmissibility Formula
Transmissibility ($T$) represents the rate at which water can be transmitted through a unit width of an aquifer under a unit hydraulic gradient. It is a crucial parameter in groundwater hydrology.
The relationship between transmissibility ($T$), intrinsic permeability ($K$), and the aquifer's saturated thickness or depth ($d$) is defined by the following equation:
$T = K \times d$
Where:
- $T$ is the transmissibility (e.g., in m2/day or L2/T).
- $K$ is the hydraulic conductivity or permeability (e.g., in m/day or L/T).
- $d$ is the saturated thickness or depth of the aquifer (e.g., in m or L).
This formula directly shows that transmissibility is the product of the aquifer's depth and its permeability.
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Important Questions from Aquifer Properties
- An aquifer has a surface area of 100 km$^2$. With no recharge, assume that pumping out 2 $\times$ 10$^7$ m$^3$ of ground water resulted in a drop of the water table by 6 m. If the aquifer has a specific retention of 15 %, then the porosity of the aquifer is _____ % (rounded off to one decimal place).
- A well penetrates an unconfined aquifer. The water level (i.e., head) in the well prior to pumping is 25 m. After a long period of pumping at a constant rate of 0.05 m$^3$/s, the drawdowns at distances of 50 m and 150 m from the well are observed to be 3 m and 1.2 m, respectively.
The hydraulic conductivity of the unconfined aquifer is ______ $\times 10^{-4}$ m/s (rounded off to two decimal places).
Consider $\pi$ = 3.14. - A confined aquifer with a uniform saturated thickness of 10 m has hydraulic conductivity of $10^{-2}$ cm/s. Considering a steady flow, the transmissivity of the aquifer in $m^2/day$ is _______ (rounded off to one decimal place).
- A stratified confined aquifer consists of three parallel homogeneous and isotropic horizontal layers with thickness of 10 m, 5 m and 5 m. The layers have the same width. The hydraulic conductivities of the strata are 15 m/day, 20 m/day and 30 m/day, respectively. The water flow follows Darcy's law and is parallel to the strata. Considering the same hydraulic gradient for all the layers, the effective hydraulic conductivity of the aquifer is ________ m/day. [in integer]
- The dimension of transmissivity of an aquifer is
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