Aquifer recharge using a partially penetrating well with clogging-induced permeability reduction

Abstract

Well and aquifer clogging is one of the most serious problems restricting the application of managed aquifer recharge (MAR). To address the clogging issue, this study proposes an innovative model using partially penetrating wells (PPW) in confined aquifers while considering the clogging-related permeability as an exponentially decayed function of time based on analysis of in-situ observation data. A combination of Hankel transform and finite Fourier cosine transform is adopted to solve the model. The quasi solutions at early and late times and steady-state are also derived using the developed analytical solution. The developed solutions can be used to investigate the independent or combined effect of clogging-induced permeability reduction, well configuration and aquifer anisotropy on groundwater flow dynamics in confined aquifers, or inversely used for estimating parameters associated with the clogging effect and aquifer property based on a semi-log graphic approach. The findings of this study can help for better understanding of the flow behaviors in the confined aquifers suffering clogging and find application in the estimation and prediction of well and aquifer clogging in MAR using aquifer injection wells.