Comparison among variation models of the hydraulic conductivity with the effective porosity in confined aquifer

Abstract

This paper presents the experimental investigation results from the modalities of variation of the hydraulic conductivity scaling law for a confined aquifer, varying the porous medium that constitutes it. In four subsequent stages, different confined aquifers were built up, each with a different typological configuration of a porous medium. For each of the aquifers considered, various hydraulic conductivity (K) measurements were performed by slug tests. The effective porosity (ne ) was set as a scale parameter, therefore the scaling laws K = K(ne), already determined and reported in previous studies, were taken into consideration for each of the four artificial aquifers considered. The same variation law of K vs ne was also determined by means of some of the well-known empirical and semi-empirical relationships. The latter are based on the particle size distribution and are suitable for application to the porous media considered here, which can be classified as coarse sand. The comparison between the different scaling laws mentioned above allowed us to discuss, through graphical analysis, the reliability of the models considered here. This will facilitate researchers and practitioners working in the field, in the methodological choice of the most appropriate model that should be used for this type of porous media.