New website! MODFLOW Questions and Answers: ask anything on groundwater modeling

Until now we had limited options to provide specific support in groundwater modeling. We know that modeling requires the review of extensive documentation and practical work with the software and sometimes or most times we don't have the time to sort things out.

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Example of Seawater Intrusion Modeling with Modflow 6, Model Muse and Flopy - Tutorial

MODFLOW 6 implements the Buoyancy package for the simulation of variable density and seawater intrusion cases. The tools are implemented in the Python package Flopy, however the workflow has changed substantially from the previous models of flow and transport. We have developed an applied case seawater intrusion model on a regular geometry model constructed with Model Muse for flow and Flopy for transport.

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What to do when your MODFLOW MT3D contaminant plume doesn’t migrate?

This is a problem that every hydrogeologist - numerical modeler has faced many times over his/her professional career independently from the theoretical background and skills with the code, graphical user interface or Python library.

We don’t know why groundwater “flows” and a contaminant plume “migrates” when both move on the aquifer system. After you construct you model geometry, setup the flow boundary condition, specify your transport package, define your contaminant sources, run your MODFLOW flow model and then run your MT3D model (or even your MT3DMS model) you will find that there is no plume, none, nada, nichts.

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Is glTF an alternative to VTK for the representation of voronoi mesh Modflow6 models?

Representation of geospatial objects in 2D are well covered by the GIS software and standards where we have powerful tools and interchangeable spatial files, however when we work on 3D objects the universe of software and tools is like a jungle with a wide variety of issues. We will always consider 3D as the ultimate representation of an object using a computer, by sure the holograms and augmented reality can improve the way we interact with a object geometry, but since we are not in the common near future we will give much effort to the representation of these objects in our computer screens, tables and cellphones.

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How to insert and read Observation Points (OBS6) in Modflow 6 with Model Muse and Flopy - Tutorial

Modflow 6 has a new approach in setting up observation points and it's essentially different to the previous versions. The OBS6 package works not only with heads and drawdowns but also with flows, so it's also possible to calibrate the model against baseflow or any other recorded flow from a boundary condition directly. We have created an applied case of the implementation of piezometers in a hillslope groundwater flow model in Modflow 6 and Model Muse. The tutorial covers all the steps related to the implementation of the observed points in Model Muse as well as the comparison among simulated and observed heads through scripts in Flopy.

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A place to find MODFLOW executables for any operating system: Windows, Mac or Linux

A normal distribution of the core versions of MODFLOW as well as its variants, and Modflow-Based particle tracking and solute transport models includes not only the executables for Windows, but also the documentation, source code, test problems and other utility programs. Working with the multiple tools of Modflow implies a huge collection of files that aren’t useful for the simulation itself if you are working on Windows. Modelers working on Mac or Linux had to compile our executable by themselves.

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What we dont see in the development of open source software for groundwater modeling

Usually we dedicate much time to developing tutorials and sometimes, just a few times, we actually write an article on this blog. Lately, our aim to discover and code is much greater than our impulse to give our opinion. This post is a special case where we write something without knowing if it is written because we are motivated or because there is something that needs to be written. In any case, writing this post doesn’t make us more free or happy... “Es macht uns nicht mehr zufrieden”... because we don´t know much about some things related to human nature.

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Interactive MODFLOW MT3D transport model visualization with Flopy, Ipywidgets and Voila - Tutorial

Representation and analysis of flow and transport results is a challenge for groundwater modelers. Aspects such as speed, compatibility, data format and visualization options are key in the 2D/3D representation of head and concentration on model cells. Under the Jupyterlab framework new tools have been developed that can be useful to represent model results on a user friendly way .

This time we have done a tutorial for the interactive representation of a contaminant plume in Jupyterlab; modeling was done with Modflow Nwt and Mt3d, representation was done with Matplolib, Ipywidgets and Voila.

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Which are the challenges for model calibration in MODFLOW 6?

MODFLOW 6 is the latest version of MODFLOW; we can’t frame this version as new because it has been released in May 2017 when QGIS 3 wasn’t even released or Python 3.6 was the latest version. On the hydrogeological perspective changes don't come as fast as expected and the amount of users of MODFLOW 6 is increasing but there are limitations on the pre/post processing tools that can take the best of the software for the general public.

Besides the philosophical discussion if a model can be “calibrated” or just “validated” there are some changes on the structure of MODFLOW 6 that bring challenges on the traditional way of model calibration.

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Online Voronoi Modflow 6 groundwater modeling with Hakuchik - Tutorial

Because a new year has come with a new way to model groundwater flow using the latest developments of Modflow 6 Disv. We are not exactly sure that we have done a tutorial, or a procedure or a bunch of code and tools together but we are sure that we have done something that can model geospatial groundwater flow online with awesome 3d representations. At the time we launched all the code on the Hakuchik server, we had a feeling of "we did it" and you are entitled to see if our work is good, bad or in progress. We are sure that more development needs to be done but this will be the way of groundwater modeling in the future, hoping that improving the capacities of professionals and concern of the general population will lead to a sustainable management of our groundwater resources.

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Variable density groundwater flow modeling with MODFLOW 6 and BUY package - Tutorial

Coastal aquifers and the interaction among brine / fresh groundwater need to be evaluated with a modeling code that can deal with variable density flow. For more than 18 years, SEAWAT was the prefered (or only) open source solution implemented in Modflow 2000 with some limitations* on its use with Flopy. Now in Modflow 6 the concept of simulation involves flow and transport modeling together with exchange among them. We have done a tutorial with a simple case of variable density flow from a saline lake into an acuifer. The transient model has a duration of 50 days where the saline water "intrudes" the aquifer at the bottom part of the lake.

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Machine Learning Supported Groundwater Model Calibration with Modflow, Flopy, PySal and Scikit Learn - Tutorial

We have done a tutorial on a low-level-complexity model with rivers, lakes, recharge and regional groundwater flow done in Model Muse in a previous tutorial. The model was imported as an object in Python with Flopy. A sensibility analysis was done with SALib to assess the response for the object model groundwater flow to a different sample of parameters and a resulting set of parameters and corresponding heads (parameters -> heads) were recorded. Then a machine learning regression was performed with Scikit-Learn with the inverse set (heads->parameters) to get the predicted parameters for the observed data. Different error measurements were performed for two model cases to assess the overall quality of the neural network regressor.

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How to do a simulated groundwater head difference map in MODFLOW and ModelMuse - Tutorial

This is a tutorial about some functionalities of Model Muse to analyze and process layer heads or parameters. The applied example was done based on a previous tutorial of a model with 3 stress periods, one static and two transient periods of 10 days. The simulated map shows the head difference in the last 10 days.

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Review of the latest functionalities of the new release of MODFLOW 6 (mf6.2.0)

Modflow6 is the latest version of the USGS code for groundwater modeling MODFLOW. This version has been coupled with another USGS open source software as Model Muse and Flopy and can implement diverse spatial discretization structures on a complete rearrangement of packages and keywords. We feel that there is a gap on the capabilities from a common groundwater modeler to adopt all the new development on Modflow and other open source groundwater software therefore we have prepared a video with the summary of this new release.

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How to set a Multi Aquifer Well (MAW) in MODFLOW 6 and Model Muse - Tutorial

Modeling the dynamic of the groundwater flow related to pumping was a challenge with the traditional Wel package in MODFLOW since wells are screened on the most part of the well depth crossing multiple layers of a groundwater flow model. The Multi Aquifer Well (MAW) package came as a solution for this complex behaviour of layer interaction in Modflow. Model Muse with Modflow6 can implement the MAW package with ease.

This tutorial shows the complete procedure to set up a MAW well on a 3 layer groundwater flow model, gives an overview of the package options and represents the well heads and well rates with scripts in Flopy.

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Modeling impermeable walls with MODFLOW 6 and HFB Package - Tutorial

Modeling the performance and effectiveness of flow barriers or impermeable walls on the groundwater flow regime is a challenge due to the wall geometry / orientation and discretization requirements. The package Horizontal Flow Barrier was designed to simulate barriers of defined thickness and conductances that are located in between flow cells, in this way the flow barrier is independent for the model discretization. This package is not new, it dates back to 1993, and it was implemented on many MODFLOW versions.

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Tutorial of regional groundwater flow modeling with MODFLOW 6 and Model Muse 4

Modeling groundwater flow on a regional scale has its own challenges because a regional model itself deals with refinement requirements, larger baselines, higher differences in elevations, complex geologies and areas without observation data.

The applied model of this tutorial covers the Angascancha Reservoir basin groundwater flow model in Ayacucho, Peru. This example have been modeled in several courses, tutorials and webinars with Modflow 2005, Flopy and Model Muse, however, this is the first time we port the model (succesfully) to Modflow 6 and Model Muse 4.

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How to install Modflow 6 on Model Muse 4 - Tutorial

Great free and open groundwater flow modeling software are in constant development process, therefore year by year we have newer versions or even new software. This time we have uptated a basic and useful tutorial from 2016 to the new version of Modflow and Model Muse. The tutorial shows the complete procedure to download and install Model Muse 4 and configure Modflow 6.

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Tutorial of Regional Groundwater Modeling with Local Refinement using MODFLOW 6 - DISV and Model Muse 4

We have explored the new (or not so new) options of Modflow 6 and Model Muse 4 to create local refinements on a regional scale based on hydraulic features. So far, we came up with a decent example of regional groundwater modeling on a andean basin with three boundary conditions and decreasing hydraulic conductivity with depth. The tutorial also explores the complexities to model basins with high difference on elevation and the use of text defined parameters to implement the Newton formulation in Modflow 6.

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How to insert a 3D Geology into a MODFLOW Model with Python and Flopy - Tutorial

Finite difference method as well as any other discretization method allows the conceptualization of a geological media into cells or other volumes. Geological models come in diverse formats in binary or text format and need to be “translated” to the cell extension of a groundwater model.

This tutorial has a applied example of the implementation of a 3D geological model from a neural network into a groundwater model with determined horizontal discretization and layer thickness. The tutorial covers all the steps for model construction and hydrogeological unit determination with scripts in Python with Flopy and other libraries. Comparisons of the original and translated geological model were done as Matplotlib plots and Vtk files in Paraview.

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