2012 Course Schedule

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Overview

Groundwater modeling is an important part of many hydrogeologic projects, and MODFLOW and MT3D are the recognized standard in groundwater flow and solute transport modeling programs. MODFLOW and MT3D can be used to make a wide range of predictions about the groundwater flow system including the drawdown, yield and capture area for pumping wells, the time history for dewatering the groundwater surface for construction sites and mines, the distribution of solute concentration in a plume downgradient from a contaminant source, the time history of concentration at a point of interest, and much, much more. However, the development of a well-thought out, well-calibrated groundwater model is not an easy task. It requires knowledge of the modeling process, the theory behind groundwater modeling and the software that can be used to develop a calibrated groundwater model.

This 4-day MODFLOW modeling course was designed to introduce course participants to Visual MODFLOW software, and to provide some guidance on how to apply MODFLOW, MODPATH, ZoneBudget and MT3D/RT3D to groundwater flow and solute transport modeling. The lecture presentations were developed to illustrate how the Visual MODFLOW software works. The lab exercises are point-by-point descriptions of how to use Visual MODFLOW to develop a wide variety of groundwater models. Each exercise represents a different application of MODFLOW, and provides different views of the tools within Visual MODFLOW to help with model development, calibration and prediction of results.

This course is ideally suited for hydrogeologists, engineers and environmental scientists with some knowledge of field investigation and hydrogeologic data who wish to understand more about MODFLOW and the groundwater modeling process.

Course Software: Visual MODFLOW Premium & WinPEST

Course Objectives and Benefits

From hands-on experience you will learn:

• How to develop simple groundwater flow and transport models using Visual MODFLOW
• How to develop a comprehensive conceptual model using HGB
• How to use MODFLOW groundwater flow modeling projects with hands-on lab exercises
• How to use MODPATH to model the movement of particles through the flow system
• How to use ZoneBudget to assess groundwater budgets within the model domain
• How to use MT3D and RT3D to simulate contaminant transport
• How to calibrate groundwater models to observed field data
• How t use WinPEST to improve model calibration and assess uncertainty

You will also receive:

• Hands-on guidance with Visual MODFLOW by expert instructors
• A complete set of course lecture notes and lab exercises
• A CD of laboratory exercise files and a demo copy of Visual MODFLOW

Course Topics

• An introduction to the groundwater modeling process
• Conceptual model development and numerical model construction
• The fundamentals of groundwater flow modeling using MODFLOW
• Basic principles of efficient model grid design using Visual MODFLOW
• Particle tracking using MODPATH to define recharge and discharge areas
• Water budget analysis using ZoneBudget
• Contaminant transport processes and simulation of results using MT3D
• Calibration groundwater flow models and the use of PEST as a calibration tool
• Visualization of model input and model results in 2D and 3D

More Information

  Groundwater Monitoring Instruments & Modeling Software Catalog (PDF)