Improving a Complex Finite Difference Ground Water Flow Model Through the Use on an Analytic Element Screening Model
Randall J. Hunt, Mary P. Anderson , and Victor A. Kelson
Abstract: This paper demonstrates that analytic element models have potential as powerful screening tools that can facilitate or improve calibration of more complicated finite-difference and finite-element models. We demonstrate how a two-dimensional analytic element model was used to identify errors in a complex three-dimensional finite-difference model caused by incorrect specification of boundary conditions. An improved fniite-difference model was developed using boundary conditions developed from a far-field ana- lytic element model. Calibration of a revised finite-difference model was achieved using fewer zones of hydraulic conductivity and lake bed conductance than the original finite-difference model. Calibration statistics were also improved in that simulated baseflows were much closer to measured values. The improved calibration is due mainly to improved specification of the boundary conditions made possible by first solving the far-field problem with an analytic element model.
GROUND WATER, Vol. 36, No. 6, November-December 1998, p. 1011-1017
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