Abstract
The groundwater exploitation requires the evaluation of groundwater potentiality of the aquifer, particularly from the various studies such as the study of its physical characteristics. A complete hydrodynamic study requires knowledge of the properties of the aquifer system: its characterizing configuration and structure, functions of the reservoir, and its behavior. The aquifer is a complex interaction of two main functions: the storativity function and the conductivity function. This research is an integral part of a long-term research development and of a short-term operation, typically for medium- and long-term exploration of groundwater resources. In order to achieve this target, a substantial number of well-developed methods of evaluating the hydric potential and statistic calculations are currently being established. It is generally accepted that the method of estimating hydraulic parameters such as hydraulic conductivity of the aquifer is a very effective way, in case it is correlated to the results of the physical properties characterizing this aquifer.
The laboratory study has been realized on an adequate sample of the soil from the aquifer by using appropriate techniques, to define its properties such as particle size, porosity, and measurements. For this case study, the physical properties of the aquifer materials are based on analysis of the test results obtained from 18 samples of the soil aquifer material, weighing from 2500 to 3000 g each, with the total mass of about 50 kg.
Resulting values of the hydraulic conductivity are quite similar; all of them meet the range of the hydraulic conductivity from medium to coarse sand (8.8 E-05 to 3.27 E-03 m/s), an average value of (1.5 E-3 m/s). Nevertheless, it is possible to show the linear relationship between hydraulic conductivity and other physical properties such as void ratio (e) and the effective diameter (d10) of the aquifer material which its mean values are respectively 52% and 0.52 mm. The hydraulic conductivity of soil depends on a variety of physical factors, including porosity, particle size and distribution, shape of particles, and arrangement of particles. Thus, it is complicated to identify a method to estimate values of hydraulic conductivity yielding a priori reliable ranges of results, when they are compared with results obtained by other methods of in situ measurement and laboratory. However, this method of empirical expression based on the particle size we have used provides satisfactory results.
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Nefis, M., Afrouag, S., Ben Abdelkrim, R. et al. Physical characterization to estimate the hydraulic conductivity of the aquifer case study: wadi Izerzi (Tamanrasset-Algeria). Arab J Geosci 11, 480 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-018-3848-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-018-3848-0