Mesh Generation of Regional MODFLOW 6 Groundwater Flow Models with mf6Voronoi - Tutorial

In this tutorial we introduce mf6Voronoi, a specialized tool for generating optimized Voronoi meshes for regional groundwater models capable of spanning thousand of square kilometers. The video demonstrates how to set up and run a Python script using Anaconda Prompt, leveraging Dask parallel processing to refine mesh resolution along key rivers and riparian ecosystems while maintaining a coarse discretization elsewhere. By utilizing multi-core computing, the workflow reduces total mesh generation time by approximately 40–45%, delivering a high-resolution, multi-scale MODFLOW 6 mesh consisting of over 150,000 cells in just a few minutes.

Tutorial

Code

This is the complete code for the Voronoi mesh generation:

from mf6Voronoi.geoVoronoi import createVoronoi

#Create mesh object specifying the coarse mesh and the multiplier
vorMesh = createVoronoi(meshName='regional',
                        maxRef = 800, 
                        multiplier=1.5,
                        use_dask=True, 
                        nproc=8,
                        overlapping=False)

#Open limit layers and refinement definition layers
vorMesh.addLimit('basin','../shp/extent_11070209.shp')

vorMesh.addLayer('river','../shp/river.shp',50)
vorMesh.addLayer('riparian','../shp/riparian_11070209.shp',200)


vorMesh.generateOrgDistVertices()
vorMesh.createPointCloud()
vorMesh.generateVoronoi(shapePath='../out/regionalMesh.shp')

Input data

You can download the input data from this link