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An aquifer drainage hydrograph plots the time-dependent discharge from an aquifer. In the shallow constant-recharge model, early discharge grows linearly according to the rain-fed aquifer similarity solution. Sustained recharge $R$ on a finite length $L$ gives eventual steady discharge $RL$ when the other end is impermeable. After recharge stops, a separable aquifer drawdown has height proportional to $1/(t+t_0)$ and discharge proportional to $1/(t+t_0{)}^2$; this is generally a late-time description rather than an exact solution for arbitrary inherited height profiles.

Introduce the positive outlet constantFor a draining similarity profile, $J$ is finite and positive. A regular linear profile would have $f{f}^{\prime }\to 0$ and $(f{f}^{\prime }{)}^{\prime }\ge 0$ at the origin, incompatible with the rain-fed aquifer similarity solution $(f{f}^{\prime }{)}^{\prime }(0)=-1$. Instead there is a square-root drainage boundary. At leading order, $(f^2{)}^{\prime }=2f{f}^{\prime }\to 2J$, givingMore explicitly, the rain-fed aquifer similarity solution implies $(f{f}^{\prime }{)}^{\prime }=-1+O(\sqrt{\eta })$, hence $f{f}^{\prime }=J-\eta +O({\eta }^{3/2})$ and $f^2=2J\eta -{\eta }^2+O({\eta }^{5/2})$. The height vanishes but its derivative diverges; their product remains finite.

Use $t_d,x_d,h_d$ temporarily for dimensional quantities. The nondimensionalization in part (a) givesTaking the drainage flux to be positive out of the left-hand end, $Q_0=-q(0,t_d)$, givesThe printed expression in terms of $f(0)$ and $f^{\prime }(0)$ must be understood as this limit; a literal product of their separate endpoint values is undefined. This is discharge per unit transverse width. Very close to the river, the divergent slope marks the limit of the Dupuit approximation, while the outer solution still supplies the leading discharge.

Use the dimensionless equation from part (a). For the similarity ansatz $h=t^{a}f(\eta )$, $\eta =x/t^b$, its three terms have time factorsA nontrivial similarity solution retaining storage, lateral drainage and nonzero rainfall requires the exponents to agree:Unlike a source-free diffusion equation, the nonzero prescribed rainfall fixes an amplitude-versus-time scale directly, so no additional conserved quantity or boundary condition is required to determine these exponents. Degenerate spatially uniform solutions are an exception to this all-terms balance. The rain-fed aquifer similarity solution satisfiesIf the dimensional equation is used directly without scaling out coefficients, its similarity profile instead obeys $\varphi (f-\eta f^{\prime })=K(f{f}^{\prime }{)}^{\prime }+R$. The normalization above is the one in which the subsequent condition $f(\infty )=1$ applies.