Groundwater Mound due to Artificial Recharge from Rectangular Areas

The suitability of the widely used existing solution for calculating groundwater mound due to artificial recharge from rectangular areas is examined for its applicability to unconfined aquifers, and this solution has been found applicable only to confined aquifers. The solution applicable for confined aquifers is derived and shown equivalent to the existing solutions. A computationally simple function is proposed for accurately approximating the integral appearing in this or existing solutions. A procedure involving analytical approximation is outlined for using this solution for unconfined aquifers. A method to calculate groundwater mound height in unconfined aquifers due to arbitrarily varying temporal recharge (percolation) is also proposed. It is hoped that the proposed methods would be of help to field engineers and practitioners.