Shape Factor for Analysis of a Slug Test

Abstract

Hydraulic conductivity is an essential parameter for groundwater investigation and management. A simple technique for determining the hydraulic conductivity of aquifers is the slug test, which consists of measuring the water level in a well after the sudden removal or injection of a small amount of water. The interpretation of a slug test is based on a geometry-dependent shape factor, for which various empirical relationships and approximate solutions have been proposed in the literature. In this study, shape factors are derived numerically for slug tests performed in monitoring wells with screens unaffected by aquifer boundaries. Also presented is a new approximate analytical solution for predicting shape factors for well screens with a large aspect ratio. A comparison with earlier methods reported in the literature shows that our results match or exceed them in terms of accuracy. The approximate analytical solution is promising because it is accurate and very easy to apply in practice.