SEAWAT: variable-density groundwater flow in a MODFLOW format
| June 7, 2012 | Posted by karmadsen under blog, Groundwater articles, Groundwater Modeling, Groundwater Modeling Software, Modeling Software, MODFLOW |
SEAWAT is a MODFLOW/MT3DMS program that can simulation variable-density groundwater flow with multi-species solute and heat transport. The code is in the public domain. The program was originally developed in 1998 by Weixing Guo and Gordon D. Bennett, respectively at Missimer International, Inc. and S.S. Papadopulos & Associates, Inc.
In 2006, Christian D. Langevin and Weixing Guo published research in Ground Water about the program (Langevin & Guo, 2006). They explained:
“MODFLOW routines were modified to solve a variable-density form of the ground water flow equation in which the density terms are calculated using an equation of state and the simulated MT3DMS solute concentrations. Changes to the MODFLOW and MT3DMS input files were kept to a minimum, and thus
existing data files and data files created with most pre- and post-processors can be used directly with the SEAWAT code.”
The paper also compared the results of SEAWAT models with a semianalytic solution and the results from a finite-element model. In both cases, SEAWAT approximated a similar solution.
Because the structure of the input and output files are basically the same as MODFLOW, the program has a decided advantage over SUTRA. The structure of SEAWAT means that it is easy for MODFLOW-users to run the program and that the code works with many MODFLOW-friendly codes and GUIs.
Langevin, C.D. &; Guo, W. 2006. MODFLOW/MT3DMS-Based Simulation of Variable-Density Ground Water Flow and Transport. Ground Water. 44(3): 339-351.