CE822 Groundwater Modeling (3 Credits) - FALL 2007

Course Objective

The purpose of this course is to give you a good introduction to practical groundwater flow and contaminant transport modeling. The course is designed as hands-on and application oriented. We will cover the fundamental modeling theories and numerical methods but the emphasis will be on high-level conceptual modeling, and teaching you how to solve complex real-world problems related to groundwater management, pollution control, and remediation. You will be learning groundwater modeling and modeling theories by actually building models as a class, individually, and in groups for several real-world sites.

 Instructor:

Dr. Shu-Guang Li (http://www.egr.msu.edu/~lishug/), Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering. You are encouraged to communicate with the instructor in whichever system works to your advantage. The options are office visit (RCE 133), emails ( lishug@egr.msu.edu), telephone (429-1929).

Class Time and Classroom:

Mondays/Wednesdays 12:40-2:00 PM. Classroom: ERC B100 A – Laboratory for Realtime Computing and Multiscale Modeling

Office Hours:

Mondays/Wednesday, 11:00-12:00, other times by appointment

Text:

Anderson and Woessner, Applied Groundwater Modeling, Academic Press. ISBN 0-12-059485-4

This is a good and very readable textbook on groundwater modeling. The focus is less on fundamental theory and more on practical application. It fits our needs for this class well and it should be a good reference book for you in your future modeling careers.

References:

  1. H. Wang and M.P. Anderson, Introduction to Groundwater Modeling: Finite Difference and Finite Element Methods, Freeman, 1982. ISBN 0-7167-1303-9
  2. C. Zheng and G. Bennett, Applied contaminant transport modeling: theory and practice, Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1995, ISBN 0-442-01348-5
  3. J. Bear and A. Verruijt, Modeling Groundwater Flow and Pollution
  4. Freeze and Cherry, Groundwater, Prentice-Hall, 1979, ISBN 0-13-365312-9
  5. Domenico and Schwartz, Physical and Chemical Hydrogeology, Wiley, 1993, ISBN 0-471-50744-X
  6. Fetter, Contaminant Hydrogeology, Macmillan, 1992, ISBN 0-02-337135-8
  7. Fetter, Applied Hydrogeology, Merrill, 3rd Edition, 1994, ISBN 0-02-336490-4
  8. Groundwater Hydraulics and Pollutant Transport, ISBN 0-13-975616-7, Prentice-Hall, 2000
  9. Bear, Hydraulics of Groundwater, McGraw-Hill, 1979
  10. Bouwer, Groundwater Hydrology, McGraw Hill, 1978, ISBN 0-07-006715-5
  11. Harr, A Civil Action, Vintage Books, 1995, ISBN 0-679-77267-7

 Prerequisites by Topic:

  1. Fundamentals of Groundwater Hydrology

 

Tentative Topics

 

  1. Course overview and motivational case studies.  Individual and team projects.
  2. Box type water balance models and applications
  3. Box type contaminant mass balance models and applications. Analytical/numerical solutions. Explicit/implicit schemes. Stability.
  4. Distributed modeling. Introduction to finite-difference methods. Modeling 2D confined aquifer flow.
  5. Introduction to IGW, MODFLOW, GMS. Realtime IGW demo of a complete modeling process. Modeling groundwater flow at the East Multnomah County site, Oregon.
  6. Data sources. Michigan statewide groundwater databases.
  7. Finite-difference approximation. Truncation errors, accuracy, consistency, convergence. Higher order schemes. Grid design.
  8. Iterative solution of sparse matrix systems. Computational issues.
  9. Flow visualization using particle tracking. Euler method; Runge Kutta method. Capture zone delineation.
  10. Modeling heterogeneity, interblock effective properties. Modeling irregular boundaries, impervious areas.
  11. Assigning parameters to grids. Spatial interpolation methods. Regression; Inverse distance weighted; Kriging.
  12. Modeling unconfined aquifers, non-linearity and water table iterations, Approximate methods to model aquifer drying and rewetting;
  13. Modeling the impact of Hubbertville water supply development on a nearby swamp and waterfowl habitat.
  14. Prescribed head and fluxes; Head dependent flux. Modeling complex sources and sinks: wells, natural recharge, large perennial rivers, shallow/intermittent streams and creeks, lakes, springs, wetlands, surface seepage, drains, evapotranspiration.
  15. Boundary fluxes. Physical, hydraulic, simulated, and “remote” boundaries. Nested models and telescopic approach, nested boundary conditions. Modeling Perrier bottled water site.
  16. Modeling the interaction between the sand and gravel aquifer with the Smith-Bybee Lakes in North Portland, OR.
  17. Unsteady flow modeling. Elastic vs. drainage storage. Time stepping, explicit, implicit, Crank-Nicolson schemes. Numerical stability. Initial condition; simulated initial conditions. Modeling cyclic conditions.
  18. Midterm
  19. Calibration and parameter estimation. Calibration parameters, targets, criteria, and guideline.  Error analysis. Manual vs. automatic calibration.
  20. Inverse modeling. Nonlinear regression. Gauss-Newton method. Introduction to UCODE and PEST.
  21. A team-based collaborative investigation: Woburn Superfund site. WR Grace vs the Citizens. Arguments of defenses and plaintiff
  22. Three-dimensional modeling. Aquifer-aquitard systems; Representation of aquitard, quasi-3D and fully 3D modeling. Computational issues.
  23. Vertical profile modeling and application. Boundary conditions vs sources/sinks.
  24. Introduction to Interactive Groundwater 4.7. Real-time demonstration and tutorial.
  25. 3D GW flow modeling at the Monahne River groundwater contamination site.
  26. Solute transport modeling. Advection, molecular diffusion, hydrodynamic dispersion, macrodispersion. Sorption and retardation. Degradation and natural attenuation.
  27. 3D contaminant transport modeling at the Monahne River site.
  28. Introduction to numerical methods for solving the advection-dispersion equation. Finite-difference methods. Upwind scheme. Numerical dispersion and oscillations.
  29. Lagrangian methods for solving transport equation. Random walk.
  30. Eulerian and Lagrangian methods. Operator splitting. Method of characteristics.
  31. Woburn project team presentations and debate

 

 

Individual projects

 

  1. Modeling stream depletion in response to large-scale pumping using IGW and comparison with analytical solutions.
  2. Designing a permeable bioremediation curtain using IGW at the plume G site, Schoolcraft, MI
  3. Wellhead delineation at the Augusta creek site using circular, analytical, numerical and MIGWWP approaches – a comparison.
  4. Modeling well conflicts using IGW in the Saginaw County, MI.
  5. Modeling the impact of the Perrier bottle water plant pumping on a nearby impoundment using IGW.
  6. Revisiting aquifer test analysis results at a few selected sites in Michigan – comparison of aquifer parameters estimated based on analytical Theis and IGW numerical models.
  7. Evaluating the accuracy of universal and ordinary Kriging for interpolating nonstationary water level  data
  8. Evaluating the accuracy of specific capacity based transmissivity – a synthetic model validation exercise
  9. Predicting contaminant migration pathways in Michigan using MIGWWP and field validation

 

Grading Policy

Grades will be given based upon performance in homework/midterm/individual project/team-based project as follows:

1.      Homework, 20%

2.      Individual project, 20%

3.      Team project presentation, 20%

4.      Midterm, 40%