Calibration and Reliability in Groundwater Modelling: From Uncertainty to Decision Making (Proceedings of ModelCARE’2005, The Hague, The Netherlands, June 2005). IAHS Publ. 304, 2006. pp.10–16.

A simple procedure for the identification of aquifer parameters based on steady-state pumping tests

Giovanni FIRMANI1, Aldo FIORI1 & Alberto BELLIN2

1 Dipartimento di Scienze dell’Ingegneria Civile, Università Roma Tre, via Vito Volterra 62, I-00146 Roma, Italy

aldo@uniroma3.it

2 Dipartimento di Ingegneria Civile e Ambientale, Università di Trento, via Mesiano 77, I-38050 Trento, Italy

Abstract Three-dimensional steady flow towards a fully penetrating well of radius rw, in a confined aquifer, is studied by means of a finite-volume numerical scheme. The hydraulic conductivity K is modelled as an axisymmetric, stationary random space function mimicking hydraulic property variations at the local scale. We develop a new methodology for the identification of the geostatistical model of variability from a steady-state pumping test involving a few wells. A constant water discharge is extracted from each well in sequence while measuring the steady-state drawdown at the remaining wells. To show its potential, the new methodology is applied to the data set obtained from a synthetic example. We conclude that the new methodology may serve as a simple tool to assess the three-dimensional statistical structure of hydraulic conductivity at the local scale.

Keywords equivalent conductivity; heterogeneous aquifer; pumping test