Abstract
The objective of this study was to develop a complete analytical solution to determining the effect of any varying rainfall recharge rates on groundwater flow in an unconfined sloping aquifer. The domain of the unconfined aquifer was assumed to be semi-infinite with an impervious bottom base, and the initial water level was parallel to the impervious bottom of a mild slope. In the past, similar problems have been discussed mostly by considering a uniform or temporally varying recharge rate, but the current study explored the variation of groundwater flow under temporally and spatially distributed recharge rates. The presented analytical solution was verified by comparing its results with those of previous research, and the practicability of the analytical solution was validated using the 2012 and 2013 data of a groundwater station in Dali District of Taichung City, Taiwan.
Highlights
Groundwater has been closely linked with human life since the beginning of civilization.Agriculture, industry, and people’s livelihoods inevitably require groundwater resources
Studies on groundwater flow in unconfined aquifers have mostly used the Boussinesq equation as the governing equation based on the Dupuit–Forchheimer approximation
The present analytical solution was verified with the results of Bansal and Das [1]
Summary
Groundwater has been closely linked with human life since the beginning of civilization.Agriculture, industry, and people’s livelihoods inevitably require groundwater resources. This study focused on the distribution of groundwater during replenishment. Obtaining accurate information of groundwater changes and distribution in an extensive aquifer is difficult, even with modern technical equipment and mathematical models. Studies on groundwater flow in unconfined aquifers have mostly used the Boussinesq equation as the governing equation based on the Dupuit–Forchheimer approximation. Most researchers have derived the Boussinesq equation for a sloping aquifer by incorporating Darcy’s law and the continuity equation (Bansal and Das [1]; Chapman [2]; Childs [3]; Wooding and Chapman [4]). Many mathematical models have been developed to predict the dynamic behavior of groundwater in response to constant or periodic recharge in unconfined aquifers (Manglik et al [7]; Rai and Manglik [8])
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