Aquifer characterization at the Veterans Administration Hospital, Tuscaloosa, Alabama
The Veterans Administration (VA) is studying the feasibility of aquifer thermal storage (ATES) at their Tuscaloosa, Alabama, facility. To determine the characteristics of the aquifer underlying the facility, the Pacific Northwest Laboratory gathered information about the environment of the aquifer and conducted tests to estimate the aquifer's transmissivity, ground-water flow direction, and velocity. Seven wells were drilled at the VA site. It was found that ground-water flow direction at the site is generally toward the southwest. The magnitude of the gradient is approximately 2.5 {times} 10{sup -3} to 3 {times} 10{sup -3} ft/ft. For six of the seven wells, clay lenses or thick clay layers appear to be acting locally as confining or semi-confining layers. Three types of test were conducted at the site: a step drawdown test, a constant discharge and recover test, and a single-well tracer test. The data yielded responses suggesting leaky confined or delayed yield models for the aquifer. Drawdown and recovery versus time were matched type curves for delayed yield to obtain estimates of transmissivity and storage. This recovery method gave the best fit to the drawdown-versus-time curves. Using this method it was found that transmissivity ranged from 500 to 9000 ft{sup 2}/day and storage ranged from 1.5 {times} 10{sup -4} to 4.5 {times} 10{sup -2} for the wells tested. Using the results of the pump and tracer tests simultaneously, ground-water velocity was estimated to be approximately 0.8 ft/day, with an effective porosity of approximately 12%. 4 refs., 7 figs., 3 tabs.
- Research Organization:
- Pacific Northwest Lab., Richland, WA (USA)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- DOE/CE
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC06-76RL01830
- OSTI ID:
- 5315592
- Report Number(s):
- PNL-7139; ON: DE90004437
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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ALABAMA
AQUIFERS
BUILDINGS
COOLING SYSTEMS
ENERGY STORAGE
ENERGY SYSTEMS
FEDERAL REGION IV
FIELD TESTS
FLOW RATE
FLUID MECHANICS
GEOLOGY
GROUND WATER
HEAT STORAGE
HOSPITALS
HYDRAULICS
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
MECHANICS
MEDICAL ESTABLISHMENTS
NORTH AMERICA
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
SEASONAL THERMAL ENERGY STORAGE
STORAGE
STRATIGRAPHY
TESTING
USA
WASTE HEAT UTILIZATION
WASTE PRODUCT UTILIZATION
WATER
WATER WELLS
WELLS