Analysis of Transient Flow to an Extended Fully Penetrating Well at Constant-Head Pumping

Abstract

Vertical wells with radial extension at the well bottom can improve the rate of water production. No study has yet investigated the effects of the transient state and anisotropy in directional hydraulic conductivities on the wellbore flux rate for this type of well. This study derives a semianalytical transient drawdown solution for constant-head pumping at a fully penetrating well radially extended at the bottom of a confined, anisotropic aquifer by applying Laplace transform and separation of variables as well as conducting a Fourier analysis. The results of this new solution indicate that transient and steady-state wellbore flux rates can be increased by a factor of two for greater radial extension of the well. Compared with an isotropic aquifer (a ratio of vertical and horizontal hydraulic conductivities equal to one), an anisotropic aquifer with the ratio less than one may produce a higher transient wellbore flux rate and lower steady-state wellbore flux rate. Moreover, the time required to achieve the steady-state wellbore flux rate can be substantially affected by anisotropy of the aquifer.