How to Calculate the Volume of a Well

Why is this important?

  • The volume of the well is used to determine the amount of plugging material needed.
  • The volume is also used to determine the needed amount of disinfectant.
  • Assuming the wrong volume of the well could lead to many future problems.

Obtaining Well Dimensions

  • Diameter of the well-measured distance across the inner lip of the well
  • Total well depth-measured distance from top to bottom of well.
  • Water depth-measured distance of depth of water in the well. (Tie a weight to some string and drop it to the bottom of the well. Retrieve the string and measure the portion of the string that is wet.)

Hand Dug Well Example

  • You have large hand dug well that is 3 feet in diameter and is 45 feet deep. The depth of water in the well is 10 feet.
  • The volume of the well is
    • V = ((3.1416* 32)/4) *45
    • V = 318.53 ft3
    • 1 yd cubed = 27 ft3
    • V = 11.79 yd3/li>
  • The volume of the well is calculated by the formula.
    • V = ((n * D2)/4)* d
    • Where:
      n = 3.1416
      D = diameter of well (feet)
      d = depth of well (feet)
  • An abandoned well is 6 inches in diameter, 100 feet in depth, and the water level is 40 feet.
  • The volume of the well is
    • D = 6in/12in/ft = 0.5 ft
    • V = ((3.416* 0.52)/4) *100
    • V = 19.62 ft3

Alternate Method

  • Use Table 1 Plugging Material Calculation Sheet.
  • And the diameter of the well.

Well or Hole Diameter

Cement

Bentonite Chips

Inches

Linear Feet

Linear Feet

2

50.3

31.3

3

28.8

13.9

4

16.2

1.9

5

10.4

5

6

7.2

3.5

7

5.3

2.6

8

4

2

9

3.2

1.5

10

2.6

1.3

12

1.8

0.86

14

1.3

0.63

16

1

0.48

18

0.8

0.38

20

0.6

0.31

24

0.4

0.21

36

0.2

0.097

40

0.16

0.078

44

0.13

0.065

48

0.11

0.054

Alternative Method

  • Bags of cement needed (94 lb per sack)
    • 100 feet/7.2 feet = 13.8 sacks
  • Bags of Bentonite needed (50 lb per sack)
    • 100 feet/3.5 feet = 28.5 sacks

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