Search USGS⌕ Search

Geology topics

Leonard F. Konikow

Publications and source records attributed to Leonard F. Konikow.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
USGS2006

Use of the Multi-Node Well (MNW) package when simulating solute transport with the MODFLOW ground-water transport process

This report describes modifications to a U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) three-dimensional solute-transport model (MODFLOW-GWT), which is incorporated into the USGS MODFLOW ground-water model as the Ground-Water Transport (GWT) Process. The modifications were made to create compatibility between the Multi-Node Well (MNW) Package for MODFLOW and the MODFLOW-GWT model. This compatibility improves the capability of MODFLOW-GWT to represent accurately solute transport in simulations that include multi-node wells because long-screen wells or long open boreholes that extend through multiple model layers can provide fast pathways for solutes to move from one location to another in a ground-water flow system. For nonpumping multi-node wells (used to simulate open boreholes or observation wells, for example), a simple routing and local mixing model was developed to calculate nodal concentrations within the borehole. A depth-averaged concentration is calculated for such nonpumping wells. For pumping multi-node wells (either withdrawal or injection) in which the flow between the well and the ground-water system is in the same direction at all nodes, the average concentration in the well is calculated as a flux-based mean assuming complete and instantaneous mixing in the wellbore of all inflows. For pumping multi-node wells (either withdrawal or injection) in which the flow between the well and the ground-water system is not unidirectional, the concentration distribution within the well is calculated using the same routing and local mixing model used for a nonpumping multi-node well, with the added assumption that the flux pumped in or out of the well is added or removed above the first well node.

Techniques and Methods↗
USGS2005

A finite-volume ELLAM for three-dimensional solute-transport modeling

A three-dimensional finite-volume ELLAM method has been developed, tested, and successfully implemented as part of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) MODFLOW-2000 ground water modeling package. It is included as a solver option for the Ground Water Transport process. The FVELLAM uses space-time finite volumes oriented along the streamlines of the flow field to solve an integral form of the solute-transport equation, thus combining local and global mass conservation with the advantages of Eulerian-Lagrangian characteristic methods. The USGS FVELLAM code simulates solute transport in flowing ground water for a single dissolved solute constituent and represents the processes of advective transport, hydrodynamic dispersion, mixing from fluid sources, retardation, and decay. Implicit time discretization of the dispersive and source/sink terms is combined with a Lagrangian treatment of advection, in which forward tracking moves mass to the new time level, distributing mass among destination cells using approximate indicator functions. This allows the use of large transport time increments (large Courant numbers) with accurate results, even for advection-dominated systems (large Peclet numbers). Four test cases, including comparisons with analytical solutions and benchmarking against other numerical codes, are presented that indicate that the FVELLAM can usually yield excellent results, even if relatively few transport time steps are used, although the quality of the results is problem-dependent.

Ground Water↗
USGS2005

Ground-water models: Validate or invalidate

The word validation has a clear meaning to both the scientific community and the general public. Within the scientific community the validation of scientific theory has been the subject of philosophical debate. The philosopher of science, Karl Popper, argued that scientific theory cannot be validated, only invalidated. Popper’s view is not the only opinion in this debate; however, many scientists today agree with Popper (including the authors). To the general public, proclaiming that a ground-water model is validated carries with it an aura of correctness that we do not believe many of us who model would claim. We can place all the caveats we wish, but the public has its own understanding of what the word implies. Using the word valid with respect to models misleads the public; verification carries with it similar connotations as far as the public is concerned. Our point is this: using the terms validation and verification are misleading, at best. These terms should be abandoned by the ground-water community.

Ground Water↗
USGS2005

Simulated effects of irrigation on salinity in the Arkansas River Valley in Colorado

Agricultural irrigation has a substantial impact on water quantity and quality in the lower Arkansas River valley of southeastern Colorado. A two-dimensional flow and solute transport model was used to evaluate the potential effects of changes in irrigation on the quantity and quality of water in the alluvial aquifer and in the Arkansas River along an 17.7 km reach of the fiver. The model was calibrated to aquifer water level and dissolved solids concentration data collected throughout the 24 year study period (197195). Two categories of irrigation management were simulated with the calibrated model: (1) a decrease in ground water withdrawals for irrigation; and (2) cessation of all irrigation from ground water and surface water sources. In the modeled category of decreased irrigation from ground water pumping, there was a resulting 6.9% decrease in the average monthly ground water salinity, a 0.6% decrease in average monthly river salinity, and an 11.1% increase in ground water return flows to the river. In the modeled category of the cessation of all irrigation, average monthly ground water salinity decreased by 25%; average monthly river salinity decreased by 4.4%; and ground water return flows to the river decreased by an average of 64%. In all scenarios, simulated ground water salinity decreased relative to historical conditions for about 12 years before reaching a new dynamic equilibrium condition. Aquifer water levels were not sensitive to any of the modeled scenarios. These potential changes in salinity could result in improved water quality for irrigation purposes downstream from the affected area.

Ground Water↗
USGS2005

MODFLOW data extractor program

EXTRACTOR is a program that extracts data from formatted and labeled MODFLOW head or drawdown files or from MODFLOW-GWT concentration or velocity files. The user specifies the number of rows, columns, and layers in the target data file, the desired time step or move number, and the range of rows, columns, and layers for which data should be extracted and written to a new text file. The new text file can then be imported into other data-analysis programs.

Open-File Report↗
USGS2004

A new streamflow-routing (SFR1) package to simulate stream-aquifer interaction with MODFLOW-2000

The increasing concern for water and its quality require improved methods to evaluate the interaction between streams and aquifers and the strong influence that streams can have on the flow and transport of contaminants through many aquifers. For this reason, a new Streamflow-Routing (SFR1) Package was written for use with the U.S. Geological Survey's MODFLOW-2000 ground-water flow model. The SFR1 Package is linked to the Lake (LAK3) Package, and both have been integrated with the Ground-Water Transport (GWT) Process of MODFLOW-2000 (MODFLOW-GWT). SFR1 replaces the previous Stream (STR1) Package, with the most important difference being that stream depth is computed at the midpoint of each reach instead of at the beginning of each reach, as was done in the original Stream Package. This approach allows for the addition and subtraction of water from runoff, precipitation, and evapotranspiration within each reach. Because the SFR1 Package computes stream depth differently than that for the original package, a different name was used to distinguish it from the original Stream (STR1) Package. The SFR1 Package has five options for simulating stream depth and four options for computing diversions from a stream. The options for computing stream depth are: a specified value; Manning's equation (using a wide rectangular channel or an eight-point cross section); a power equation; or a table of values that relate flow to depth and width. Each stream segment can have a different option. Outflow from lakes can be computed using the same options. Because the wetted perimeter is computed for the eight-point cross section and width is computed for the power equation and table of values, the streambed conductance term no longer needs to be calculated externally whenever the area of streambed changes as a function of flow. The concentration of solute is computed in a stream network when MODFLOW-GWT is used in conjunction with the SFR1 Package. The concentration of a solute in a stream reach is based on a mass-balance approach and accounts for exchanges with (inputs from or losses to) ground-water systems. Two test examples are used to illustrate some of the capabilities of the SFR1 Package. The first test simulation was designed to illustrate how pumping of ground water from an aquifer connected to streams can affect streamflow, depth, width, and streambed conductance using the different options. The second test simulation was designed to illustrate solute transport through interconnected lakes, streams, and aquifers. Because of the need to examine time series results from the model simulations, the Gage Package first described in the LAK3 documentation was revised to include time series results of selected variables (streamflows, stream depth and width, streambed conductance, solute concentrations, and solute loads) for specified stream reaches. The mass-balance or continuity approach for routing flow and solutes through a stream network may not be applicable for all interactions between streams and aquifers. The SFR1 Package is best suited for modeling long-term changes (months to hundreds of years) in ground-water flow and solute concentrations using averaged flows in streams. The Package is not recommended for modeling the transient exchange of water between streams and aquifers when the objective is to examine short-term (minutes to days) effects caused by rapidly changing streamflows.

Open-File Report↗
USGS2003

Use of boundary fluxes when simulating solute transport with the MODFLOW ground-water transport process

This report describes modifications to a U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) threedimensional solute-transport model (MODFLOWGWT), which is incorporated into the USGS MODFLOW ground-water model as the Ground- Water Transport (GWT) Process. The modifications improve the capability of MODFLOW-GWT to accurately simulate solute transport in simulations that represent a nonzero flux across an aquifer boundary. In such situations, the new Boundary Flux Package (BFLX) will allow the user flexibility to assign the flux to specific cell faces, although that flexibility is limited for certain types of fluxes (such as recharge and evapotranspiration, which can only be assigned to the top face if either is to be represented as a boundary flux). The approach is consistent with that used in the MODPATH model. The application of the BFLX Package was illustrated using a test case in which the Lake Package was active. The results using the BFLX Package showed noticeably higher magnitudes of velocity in the cells adjacent to the lake than previous results without the BFLX Package. Consequently, solute was transported slightly faster through the lake-aquifer system when the BFLX Package is active. However, the overall solute distributions did not differ greatly from simulations made without using the BFLX Package.

Open-File Report↗
USGS2001

Effects of clay dispersion on aquifer storage and recovery in coastal aquifers

Cyclic injection, storage, and withdrawal of freshwater in brackish aquifers is a form of aquifer storage and recovery (ASR) that can beneficially supplement water supplies in coastal areas. A 1970s field experiment in Norfolk, Virginia, showed that clay dispersion in the unconsolidated sedimentary aquifer occurred because of cation exchange on clay minerals as freshwater displaced brackish formation water. Migration of interstitial clay particles clogged pores, reduced permeability, and decreased recovery efficiency, but a calcium preflush was found to reduce clay dispersion and lead to a higher recovery efficiency. Column experiments were performed in this study to quantify the relations between permeability changes and clay mineralogy, clay content, and initial water salinity. The results of these experiments indicate that dispersion of montmorillonite clay is a primary contributor to formation damage. The reduction in permeability by clay dispersion may be expressed as a linear function of chloride content. Incorporating these simple functions into a radial, cross-sectional, variable-density, ground-water flow and transport model yielded a satisfactory simulation of the Norfolk field test - and represented an improvement over the model that ignored changes in permeability. This type of model offers a useful planning and design tool for ASR operations in coastal clastic aquifer systems.

Transport in Porous Media↗
USGS2000

A three-dimensional finite-volume Eulerian-Lagrangian Localized Adjoint Method (ELLAM) for solute-transport modeling

This report documents the U.S. Geological Survey Eulerian-Lagrangian Localized Adjoint Method (ELLAM) algorithm that solves an integral form of the solute-transport equation, incorporating an implicit-in-time difference approximation for the dispersive and sink terms. Like the algorithm in the original version of the U.S. Geological Survey MOC3D transport model, ELLAM uses a method of characteristics approach to solve the transport equation on the basis of the velocity field. The ELLAM algorithm, however, is based on an integral formulation of conservation of mass and uses appropriate numerical techniques to obtain global conservation of mass. The implicit procedure eliminates several stability criteria required for an explicit formulation. Consequently, ELLAM allows large transport time increments to be used. ELLAM can produce qualitatively good results using a small number of transport time steps. A description of the ELLAM numerical method, the data-input requirements and output options, and the results of simulator testing and evaluation are presented. The ELLAM algorithm was evaluated for the same set of problems used to test and evaluate Version 1 and Version 2 of MOC3D. These test results indicate that ELLAM offers a viable alternative to the explicit and implicit solvers in MOC3D. Its use is desirable when mass balance is imperative or a fast, qualitative model result is needed. Although accurate solutions can be generated using ELLAM, its efficiency relative to the two previously documented solution algorithms is problem dependent.

Water-Resources Investigations Report↗
USGS2000

Documentation of a computer program to simulate lake-aquifer interaction using the MODFLOW ground water flow model and the MOC3D solute-transport model

Heads and flow patterns in surficial aquifers can be strongly influenced by the presence of stationary surface-water bodies (lakes) that are in direct contact, vertically and laterally, with the aquifer. Conversely, lake stages can be significantly affected by the volume of water that seeps through the lakebed that separates the lake from the aquifer. For these reasons, a set of computer subroutines called the Lake Package (LAK3) was developed to represent lake/aquifer interaction in numerical simulations using the U.S. Geological Survey three-dimensional, finite-difference, modular ground-water flow model MODFLOW and the U.S. Geological Survey three-dimensional method-of-characteristics solute-transport model MOC3D. In the Lake Package described in this report, a lake is represented as a volume of space within the model grid which consists of inactive cells extending downward from the upper surface of the grid. Active model grid cells bordering this space, representing the adjacent aquifer, exchange water with the lake at a rate determined by the relative heads and by conductances that are based on grid cell dimensions, hydraulic conductivities of the aquifer material, and user-specified leakance distributions that represent the resistance to flow through the material of the lakebed. Parts of the lake may become "dry" as upper layers of the model are dewatered, with a concomitant reduction in lake surface area, and may subsequently rewet when aquifer heads rise. An empirical approximation has been encoded to simulate the rewetting of a lake that becomes completely dry. The variations of lake stages are determined by independent water budgets computed for each lake in the model grid. This lake budget process makes the package a simulator of the response of lake stage to hydraulic stresses applied to the aquifer. Implementation of a lake water budget requires input of parameters including those representing the rate of lake atmospheric recharge and evaporation, overland runoff, and the rate of any direct withdrawal from, or augmentation of, the lake volume. The lake/aquifer interaction may be simulated in both transient and steady-state flow conditions, and the user may specify that lake stages be computed explicitly, semi-implicitly, or fully-implicitly in transient simulations. The lakes, and all sources of water entering the lakes, may have solute concentrations associated with them for use in solute-transport simulations using MOC3D. The Stream Package of MODFLOW-2000 and MOC3D represents stream connections to lakes, either as inflows or outflows. Because lakes with irregular bathymetry can exist as separate pools of water at lower stages, that coalesce to become a single body of water at higher stages, logic was added to the Lake Package to allow the representation of this process as a user option. If this option is selected, a system of linked pools (sublakes) is identified in each time step and stages are equalized based on current relative sublake surface areas.

Water-Resources Investigations Report↗