CE 54400 – Subsurface Hydrology

Credits and contact hours:

Specific course information:

Catalog description: Sources and distribution of water in urban environment, including surface reservoir requirements, utilization of groundwater, and distribution systems. Analysis of sewer systems and drainage courses for the disposal of both wastewater and storm water. Pumps and lift stations. Urban planning and storm drainage practice.
Prerequisites: CE 34000 or equivalent with minimum Grade of C-
Course status: Required course

Specific Goals for the course:

Student learning outcomes - Upon successful completion of this course the student shall be able to:
- analyze and design well systems
- select and size casings and pumps for applications
- calculate aquifer properties from well tests
Relationship of course to program outcomes
- Outcome 1: An ability to identify, formulate, and solve complex engineering problems by applying principles of engineering, science, and mathematics.
- Outcome 5: An ability to function effectively on a team whose members together provide leadership, create a collaborative and inclusive environment, establish goals, plan tasks and meet objectives.

Topics:

Water use and availability, Water cycle, Definitions (Aquifers, types of underground water
Darcy’s law
Equations of groundwater motion
- Concept of storage in confined and unconfined aquifers; general continuity equation; boundary conditions; bending of streamlines; analytical solutions for simple cases in confined and unconfined aquifers, flow nets.
Wells Hydraulics
- Steady flow to wells in confined aquifers; Thiem equation; Dupuit assumption for unconfined aquifers; transient flows; Theis equation and well function; Cooper- Jacob approximation; image well theory and superposition; special cases of leaky aquifers. Tile drains and horizontal drains.
Contaminant transport
- Advection dispersion transport of contaminant plumes, non-local transport.
Unsaturated flows and vadoze zone hydrology
Using GMS: Modeling a landfill