Unsteady flow toward an artesian well

A finite element method programed for a high‐speed computer was developed to determine the unsteady drawdown around an artesian well. On the basis of assumptions that the well has a finite radius and that the discharge from a partially penetrating well is not uniform along the well bore, numerical solutions for various well penetrations are presented and compared with the experimental measurements from a sand model. It was found that the numerical solutions check reasonably with the experimental measurements; thus the validity of the numerical method was indicated.