MODELING OF GROUNDWATER USING TWO DIFFERENT APPROACHES

Abstract

Water present below the earth surface in the pore spaces of the soil and the fractures present in the rocks are called
groundwater. With the continuous increase in the water demand at industrial, agriculture and domestic level,
groundwater availability in the area is falling. Since the 1960s, numerical modeling is often used for prediction of
groundwater level and its condition in the concerning region. The aim of this paper is the use of numerical models to
simulate the groundwater flow. Solutions to many issues related to groundwater flow require mathematical modeling.
Commonly used models for solving groundwater flow equations - finite difference method (FDM) or finite element
method (FEM) are at present proven tools of hydro-geologists. The most popular MODFLOW based FDM algorithm has
been tested in thousands of cases and is now the standard in groundwater flow modeling. Apart from the known
advantages of numerical modeling based on FDM or FEM methods, their disadvantage might be the need of extensive
discretization of the modeled area and finding a compromise between the accuracy and complexity of the numerical
model. In this paper, a steady state groundwater model was developed using FDM and AEM methods. Before
conceptualization of the model, different input data was generated in a GIS environment whereas image classification
exercise was performed to compute the land use map of the area. From the results, it was found that AEM does not
require a fixed boundary condition and in FDM pumping wells are approximately located and averaged over the cell
which becomes a cause of inaccurate location of wells which does not give an accurate result for that cell. This study can
be very helpful for groundwater professionals in deciding the best suitable method for their study area.