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| 1 |
Introduction
The software package 3D Groundwater Explorer (GE)
provides for three-dimensional visualization and animation of data from
groundwater flow and transport models. The current version of
GE uses native MODFLOW 88/96/200 input files or
models created by PMWIN. As GE interfaces with the model input and output files
directly, no third party software is necessary for the
visualization. You can use GE with your favorite
MODFLOW-GUI's, including Argus ONE MODFLOW
GUI, Groundwater Modeling System (GMS),
Groundwater Vistas, ModIME, Processing
Modflow, Visual
Modflow, and others. GE will work happily with your models, as
long as your GUI saves your models using the original format
of MODFLOW and creates a discretization file documented in the
U.S.
Geological Survey Open-File Report 00-92 for MODFLOW-2000.
GE supports (but not required) the following models:
▪ Processing Modflow version
5.x and higher
▪ MODFLOW
88/96/2000 (public domain)
▪ MODPATH
(public domain)
▪ MT3DMS (public domain)
▪ MT3D99 (proprietary
software)
▪ PHT3D (public domain, in preparation)
▪ RT3D
(public domain)
▪ PMPATH for Windows (public domain)
▪ MOC3D
(public domain)
▪ PATH3D (proprietary
software)
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Design
concept
GE is
fully object-oriented; that
is, hydrogeologic structure and model data are represented by
individual visualization objects and arbitrary numbers of
visualization objects can be added in any order to the
display. GE does not assume any size limitation of groundwater
models and their result files. A
visualization object is an object, such as isosurface or
velocity vectors, which is to be displayed on the screen. The
available visualization objects are briefly described below.
| A. |
The
Pathline object displays 3D-pathlines, which
are calculated using PMPATH for Windows or MODPATH.
Image to the right:
A cube model consists of 21 x 21 x 21 cells. Injection
and pumping wells are placed on opposite corners. The
image shows pathlines and head-isosurfaces.
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| B. |
The
Geospatial Model object displays the
stratigraphy of models.
Image to the right:
A model consists of 62 x 56 x 6 cells. The image shows the stratigraphy of the model.
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| C. |
The
Potentiometric Surface object displays
groundwater surfaces using head values of a selected
layer or of the highest active cells. These values are also
used for creating a color map (contours) on the surface.
Image to the right:
A model consists of 40 x 40 x 14 cells. The
image shows the water-table mount resulting from local
recharge (only a quadrant of the aquifer is simulated
and the recharge is applies to 4 cells located at a
corner of the model). This model is adapted from the
second test problem of the BCF2 package (USGS Open
File Report 91-536).
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| D. |
The
Isosurface object displays head, drawdown, or
concentration isosurfaces using head or drawdown
values calculated by MODFLOW or concentration values
of any species calculated by MT3DMS, MT3D99, PHT3D, or
RT3D. An isosurface is defined by a constant value in
3D space.
Image to the right:
To construct an isosurface, the
visualization program first reads the data of all
active cells and then locates nodes having a given
constant value by using a tri-linear interpolation
scheme. Through triangulation, those nodes are used to
construct a FE-mesh representing the isosurface. |
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| E. |
The
Concentration Cutting Plane
object cuts through
the groundwater model and displays concentration
distribution as a color map (contours) on the plane
surface (slice). A concentration cutting plane uses
concentration values of any species calculated by
MT3DMS, MT3D99, PHT3D, or RT3D.
Image to the right:
A model consists of 40 x 21 x 12 cells. The image
shows inorganic zinc contamination that is remediated
by pulse-wise injection of a degradable organic
substance. The concentration values are simulated by PMWIN/PHT3D.
Red = initial concentration, yellow = 'safe'
concentration. |
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| F. |
The
Head Cutting Plane
and Drawdown Cutting
Plane objects cut through the model and display
head and drawdown distribution (contours) on the plane
(slice) using results calculated by MODFLOW. |
Image
will be added at a later time |
| G. |
The
Hydraulic Components object displays
ground-water model cells that contain hydraulic
components (e.g. constant-head boundary, pumping wells, rivers, drains,
general-head boundary conditions, etc.).
Image to the right:
A model consists of 80 x 96 x 3 cells. The image shows
the topography of the second model layer and the
position of pumping wells (red) and constant-head
boundaries (blue).
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| H. |
The
Parameter
object displays spatial distribution
of input aquifer parameter values (i.e., K, T, S, Ss,
etc) by coloring model cells according to their parameter
values.
Image to the right:
A model consists of 80 x 96 x 3 cells (same as above). The image shows
the spreading of glacier washout channels (red) that
are assigned higher hydraulic conductivity values. The
aquifer is rendered translucent (gray) for
orientation.
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| I. |
The
Velocity Vectors object displays velocity
vectors for model cells within an area of interest by
using the cell-by-cell flow terms calculated by
MODFLOW. An inbuilt filter can be used to extract
vectors with the velocity magnitude ranging between a
given bound.
Image to the right:
Flow field between pumping and injection wells. The
groundwater flow model consists of 31 x 31 x 15 cells.
The injection well is screened from layer 4 to layer
7. The abstraction well is screened from layer 8 to
layer 11. Only velocity vectors above a given magnitude
are displayed. Pathlines are calculated by PMPATH.
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| J. |
The
XYZ Surface object constructs surfaces using
XYZ values of nodes saved in ASCII files. To construct
an XYZ surface, an FE-mesh is created by applying
Delaunay triangulation on the nodes.
Image to the right:
A model consists of 50 x 80 x 1 cells. The terrain
surface has been constructed from an XYZ file and
overlaid on the model surface. |
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| K. |
The
DXF Map object displays sitemaps using DXF
files.
Image to the right:
A model consists of 70 x 60 x 20 cells. A DXF map is
overlaid on the model. The pumping wells and boundary
conditions of the model are displayed. |
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3 |
Animation
All
time-dependent visualization objects can be animated or can be
set as "static" over time. See Design
concept above for the available visualization objects of
GE.
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Animation
is navigated by intuitive control buttons that can be
found on most video players. Animation can be step-wise
or even reversed. When animation is paused, you can move
forward or backward within the simulation time span using
the time-slider of Current Time.
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This animation shows fluctuation of the groundwater
table due to pumping (red) and injection (blue) wells.
After all wells have been shut down, the groundwater
table recovers. |
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Animation
of a concentration plume. The source of the plume is
located on the ground surface to the left of the
model. Due to pumpage in the lower aquifer and
recharge at the ground surface, the concentration
plume flows through the confining layer (not
displayed) and reaches the lower aquifer. |
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This
animation shows the water-table mount resulting from
local recharge (only a quadrant of the aquifer is
simulated and the recharge is applies to 4 cells
located at a corner of the model). |
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