Review: Hydraulics of water wells—head losses of individual components

Houben, Georg J.

Review: Hydraulics of water wells—head losses of individual components | Revue: Hydraulique des puits—pertes de charge des différents composants Revisión: Hidráulica de pozos de agua—componentes individuales de las pérdidas de carg 评论:水井的水力学—单个组分的水头损失 Revisão: Hidráulica de poços d’água—perdas de carga de componentes individuais

2015

Houben, Georg J.

Knowledge about the hydraulics of water wells is important to optimize their energy efficiency. By minimizing head losses around the well, energy consumption and ageing processes can be limited, thereby prolonging the well’s service life. The contribution of the individual components to total head loss (drawdown) in the well is analyzed in detail. The single most important contributor to drawdown is commonly the aquifer. Its hydraulic conductivity can only be improved slightly through development. The second most important contributor is the formation of a wellbore skin layer. This occurs if no proper well development was performed after drilling; the layer contains remnants of drilling-fluid additives or mobilized fine aquifer particles. The head loss caused by groundwater flow in the gravel pack, through the screen slots and inside the well, was found to be small. Thus, well development is the most important measure to influence well performance and energy efficiency. For longer operation times and pumped volumes, the energy gains outperform the cost for the development.

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