Strategies for avoiding errors and ambiguities in the analysis of oscillatory pumping tests

Abstract

Oscillatory pumping tests have recently seen a resurgence in interest as a strategy for aquifer characterization. In a cross-well pumping test, measured responses to oscillatory pumping tests consist of the amplitude and phase delay of pressure changes at an observation well. This information can be used to obtain estimates of effective aquifer parameters (conductivity and storage coefficients), by fitting field data with an analytical model through parameter estimation. Alternately, multiple pumping tests can be fit simultaneously through tomographic analyses. However, in both cases, analysis of obtained test results may be ambiguous if “phase wrapping” occurs, i.e. if signals are delayed by more than one period. In this work, we demonstrate scenarios under which phase wrapping can make analysis of oscillatory testing difficult, and present guidelines for avoiding ambiguity in oscillatory testing results.