Rate and Volume of Stream Flow Depletion due to Unsteady Pumping

Abstract

Analytical but approximate methods are developed for obtaining pumping induced rate and volume of stream flow depletion, which can account for unsteady (any variation) pumping discharge and are also applicable for intermittent pumping and recovery. Exact analytical solutions for a sinusoidal variation in the pumping discharge are proposed; the proposed methods are verified using these solutions. The proposed methods use ramp kernels that give results superior to the conventional convolution. These ramp kernels assume the linear variation in pumping discharge between the two consecutive discretized points as opposed to the uniform variation assumed in the conventional convolution. The proposed solutions are applicable for homogeneous and isotropic aquifers hydraulically connected to streams.