14.6 Software Available to Analyze Slug Tests
The same commercially available software packages used to analyze pumping tests include modules to analyze slug‑test data. As with pumping‑test software analyses, slug‑test analytical methods are constrained by the hydrogeological setting and well configuration. The most widely used commercial software packages are AQTESOLV (aqtesolv.com↗), AquiferTest V12 (waterloohydrogeologic.com↗), and Aquiferwin32 Version 6 (groundwatermodels.com↗). General information regarding slug‑test analysis capabilities of each program is found in Box 8. The individual software web‑sites provide additional details.
Free software packages are also available to analyze underdamped and overdamped data. One software package available on the Kansas Geological Survey Site↗ has been addressed in this section (Butler & Garnett, 2000). A search of the internet will find additional software to analyze overdamped responses, e.g., Wylie and Magnuson (1995) present spreadsheet modeling of a slug test using the van der Kamp method; Matos‑Rosillo and others (2018) provide SlugIn 1.0: A Free tool for automated Slug Test Analysis; Halford and Kuniansky (2002) offer an open‑file report titled Documentation of Spreadsheets for the Analysis of Aquifer‑Test and Slug‑Test Data. This USGS publication↗ includes spreadsheets for the Bouwer and Rice Method, van der Kamp Method and the Cooper, Bredehoeft, and Papadopulos Method. Geoprobe Drilling Rig and Tool Manufacturer developed a pneumatic slug‑test system and provides Slug Test Analysis Software (Geoprobe, 2016) for pneumatic slug testing that can be downloaded from Geoprobe↗.
Part 3 addresses methods used to perform hydraulic tests of open boreholes, called packer tests. Packer tests are most often applied to characterize an isolated portion of an uncased borehole.