Question

An aquifer has a cross-sectional area of 1000 m² and a hydraulic gradient of 0.01. If water is flowing from the aquifer at a rate of 10 m³/sec, the hydraulic conductivity (in m/sec) of the aquifer is .............

Hint:

Darcy's law is used to calculate the hydraulic conductivity by dividing the flow rate by the product of the cross-sectional area and the hydraulic gradient.

Answer 1

Correct Answer: 1

Step 1: Use Darcy's law.
Darcy's law for groundwater flow is given by the equation: \[ Q = K \times A \times i \] Where: - \( Q = 10 \, \text{m}^3/\text{sec} \) (flow rate) - \( A = 1000 \, \text{m}^2 \) (cross-sectional area) - \( i = 0.01 \) (hydraulic gradient) We need to find \( K \), the hydraulic conductivity. Rearranging the equation: \[ K = \frac{Q}{A \times i} \] Substituting the values: \[ K = \frac{10}{1000 \times 0.01} = \frac{10}{10} = 1 \, \text{m/sec} \] Thus, the hydraulic conductivity of the aquifer is 1 m/sec.