Un enfoque nuevo y más general de la hidráulica subterránea

Abstract

Until very recently it has been considered that the law of Carey, is the basic law of the underground hydraulics. The application of this law, which establishes a linear correspondence between speed and hydraulic gradient, to the flow that occurs in aquifers of great hydraulic conductivity, such as the Cuban karstic aquifers, has given rise to contradictions, which indicate the need to formulate a non-linear law to correctly analyze the hydraulics of these aquifers. The new law should be general, including linear flow as a particular case, and should be able to be expressed in terms of hydraulic properties of the medium, easily measurable in the field. The Investigations that the author reports have given answer to the problem, finding also that, when studying the non-linear flow, it is necessary to have in a new property of the aquifers, which it calls equivalent rugosity, and that serves to characterize them together with the properties already known. The established law has allowed to formulate a new theoretical basis for underground hydraulics, which has made it possible, among other things, to interpret qualitatively and quantitatively processes that until now had not been satisfactorily explained; establish new criteria to define flow regimes and their limits; present a new image of the flow to the wells; deduce new equations that describe for the first time the non-linear flow as a function of aquifer properties, and give a new general approach to underground hydraulics, which treats as particular cases those already known in the literature.