Dear all
Can anyone recommend a software which will model flow nets for me? Im trying to install a 30m diameter by 10m deep circular shaft into gravel and want to see the variation and direction of water flow.
flow nets are typically derived in Cartesian coordinates. You are really working in radial coordinates. I'd just fire up Modflow, but that's not cheap and requires some context on how to drive the software.
Well equations will certainly give you a basis to evaluate yield, drawdown, area of influence, etc. I don't know the end-game for the OP. Clearly, we know the direction of flow. I guess if you know the shape of the drawdown curve, you'd know the stabilized position of the phreatic surface. From that, you could derive gradient.
I refer you to the following link to the USACE document, "Dewatering and Groundwater Control." There you will find equations for yield and drawdown for flow to wells for artesian and gravity conditions. Also for fully and partially penetrating wells. Find your boundary condition and use the equation accordingly. Base the value, "R" on the grain-size correlation to permeability.