Hydraulic Conductivity of Porous Media Exercise

Laura Ruhl, University of Arkansas at Little Rock

This activity is part of the On the Cutting Edge Peer Reviewed Teaching Activities collection. (view details)

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Scientific Accuracy
Alignment of Learning Goals, Activities, and Assessments
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Initial Publication Date: June 6, 2013

Summary

This activity provides the hydrogeology students an exercise to understand specific discharge, hydraulic conductivity, and porous media. They will actually use a Darcy column to gather data on porous media, as well as calculate and understand the hydrologic properties of the materials.

Geology of groundwater occurrence, Aquifer properties, Groundwater ...(more) | College Upper (15-16)

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Context

Audience

This is an upper level course which is an elective course for our traditional geology majors and a required course for our environmental geology majors.

Skills and concepts that students must have mastered

Students need to have an understanding of porosity, specific discharge, and hydraulic conductivity. This exercise is a great addition to lecture material.

How the activity is situated in the course

I use this in-class exercise as a supplement to my lecture material. It gives them hands-on experience in performing the darcy experiment.

Goals

Content/concepts goals for this activity

The student, in completing this exercise, should be able to calculate specific discharge, hydraulic conductivity, and have an understanding of how these can change with different porous media and space constraints.