Consolidation Settlement in Aquifers Caused by Pumping
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 139, Issue 7
Abstract
Equations are derived to calculate one-dimensional (vertical) consolidation settlement in aquifers caused by groundwater extraction. The settlement equations capture the effect that the decline in pore-water pressure caused by groundwater extraction has on increased vertical effective stress. The settlement equations for single-layered confined or unconfined aquifers and multiple-layered aquifers are derived by linking the increase in vertical effective stress to the reduction of the void ratio using the reconstructed field consolidation curve of aquifer sediments. This paper’s approach blends groundwater hydraulics with the classical theory of one-dimensional consolidation widely used in geotechnical engineering. Closed-form consolidation settlement equations are presented for single-layer, homogeneous, isotropic confined aquifers with steady-state or transient groundwater flow and for single-layer, homogeneous, isotropic, unconfined aquifers under steady-state flow. The consolidation equations for consolidated settlement in heterogeneous, anisotropic, single-layer or multilayer aquifers are expressed as the numerical integration of the vertical strain induced by groundwater pumping. The numerical-integration settlement equations require the implementation of a groundwater simulation model to calculate the pore pressure decline within aquifer layers, followed by the calculation of the increase in vertical effective stress and the reduction in pore volume. One numerical example confirms the accuracy of this paper’s approach to aquifer consolidation by comparing with the solution obtained with the three-dimensional poroelastic theory.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
ASCE. (1994). Settlement analysis, ASCE, Reston, VA.
Arfken, G. (1985). Mathematical methods for physicists, Academic Press, Orlando, FL.
Bear, J. (1979). Hydraulics of groundwater, McGraw Hill, New York.
Biot, M. A. (1956). “General solution of the equations of elasticity and consolidation for a porous medium.” J. Appl. Mech., 78, 91–96.
Coduto, D. P., Yeung, R. M., and Kitch, W. A. (2011). Geotechnical engineering, Pearson, Upper New Saddle, NJ.
De Marsily, G. (1986). Quantitative hydrogeology, Academic Press, Orlando, FL.
Dupuit, J. (1863). Theoretical and practical studies of the movement of waters in the canals of couverts and through permeable terrains, 2nd Ed., Dunod, Paris (in French).
Galloway, D. L., and Burbey, T. J. (2011). “Regional land subsidence accompanying groundwater extraction.” Hydrogeol. J., 19(8), 1459–1486.
Gambolati, G., Teatini, P., Baú, D., and Ferronato, M. (2000). “Importance of poro-elastic coupling in dynamically active aquifers of the Po River basin, Italy.” Water Resour. Res., 36(9), 2443–2459.
Heath, R. C. (1987). “Basic groundwater hydrology.” U.S. Geological Survey Water-Supply, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC.
Helm, D. C. (1976). “One dimensional simulation of aquifer system compaction near Pixley, California. 2. Stress-dependent parameters.” Water Resour. Res., 12(3), 375–391.
Holtz, R. D., and Kovacs, W. D. (1981). An introduction to geotechnical engineering, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ.
Ingebritsen, S., Sanford, W., and Neuzil, C. (2007). Groundwater in geologic processes, 2nd Ed., Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, U.K.
Kramer, S. L. (1996). Geotechnical earthquake engineering, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ.
Loáiciga, H. A. (2009). “Derivation approaches for the Theis equation.” Ground Water, 47(4), 1–4.
Loáiciga, H. A., and Hudak, P. F. (2003). “Storativity and specific yield.” Encyclopedia of water science, B. A. Stewart and T. A. Howell, eds., Marcel Dekker, New York, 937–941.
Lohman, S. W. (1989). “Groundwater hydraulics.” U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper No. 708, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC.
Neuman, S. P. (1975). “Analysis of pumping test data from anisotropic unconfined aquifers considering delayed gravity response.” Water Resour. Res., 11(2), 329–342.
Ortega-Guerrero, A., Rudolph, D. L., and Cherry, J. A. (1999). “Analysis of long-term land subsidence in Mexico City: Field investigations and predictive modeling.” Water Resour. Res., 35(11), 3327–3341.
Osmanoglu, B., Dixon, T. H., Wdowinski, S., Cabral-Cano, E., and Jiang, Y. (2011). “Mexico City subsidence observed with persistent scatterer inSAR.” Intl. J. Appl. Earth Obs., 13(1), 1–12.
Rutledge, P. C. (1944). “Relation of undisturbed sampling to laboratory testing.” Transactions, ASCE, 109, 463–472.
Terzaghi, K. (1925). Settlement and consolidation of clay, McGraw Hill, New York.
Theis, C. V. (1935). “The relation between the lowering of the piezometric surface and rate and duration of discharge of a well using ground water storage.” Trans. Am. Geophys. Union, 16, 519–524.
Thiem, J. (1906). Hydrologic methods, J.M. Gebhardt, Leipzig, Germany (in German).
Timoshenko, S. P., and Goodier, J. N. (1970). Theory of elasticity, McGraw Hill, New York.
Zektser, I. S., Loáiciga, H. A., and Wolf, J. (2005). “Environmental impacts of groundwater overdraft: Selected case studies in the Southwestern United States.” J. Environ. Geol., 47(3), 396–404.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 139 • Issue 7 • July 2013
Pages: 1191 - 1204
Copyright
© 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Apr 17, 2012
Accepted: Sep 10, 2012
Published online: Nov 17, 2012
Published in print: Jul 1, 2013
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.