12 Exercises
One method to analyze soil and rock cores collected during drilling is to measure hydraulic properties of small centimeter-sized samples removed from the larger core (“core plugs”) in a laboratory. Before the results can be used for flow simulations, calculations of bulk properties are required.
Consider the following core collected from a deposit of layered silt and sand. The core is 1.22 meters long, and oriented vertically. Hydraulic conductivity was calculated for five core plugs:
Exercise 1
If only the flow of groundwater through the sand is significant, what is the net/gross ratio of this core?
Click here for solution to exercise 1
Exercise 2
What are the calculated bulk vertical and horizontal hydraulic conductivities of the representative volume?
Click here for solution to exercise 2
Exercise 3
What else would you need before using the calculated bulk hydraulic properties for a flow model?