title: A spreadsheet method of estimating best-fit hydraulic gradients using head data from multiple wells.
abstract: Hydraulic gradients from planar water tables, or piezometric surfaces, and horizontal flow regimes can be quickly and conveniently calculated from data sets involving numerous wells. The matrix-solving functions of a modem spreadsheet program (Excel) were used to determine the equation of a water-table plane, Ax + By + Cz - D = 0, and the equation coefficients were then used to determine the magnitude of the hydraulic gradient, according to gradient = square root of A2 + B2/C2, and its direction, according to alpha = arctan B/A, where alpha is the angle measured from the x-axis. A pre-prepared Excel file constructed to handle data from up to 20 wells at once is available for free downloading at www.geo.ku.edu/hydro/KUHydro.html.
authors.affiliation: Geology Department, University of Kansas, 1475 Jayhawk Blvd., Lawrence, KS 66045, USA. jfdevlin@ku.edu
authors.forename: J F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Devlin
mesh_terms: D005544:Forecasting; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D012987:Soil; D014872:Water Movements
chemical_list: D012987:Soil