Governing equations of groundwater flow and aquifer modelling using finite difference method

Abstract

Groundwater, the term used for water occurring below the ground surface, is an important constituent of hydrological cycle and is the major source of water supply in various sectors. Due to over exploitation, mainly because of high population growth rates and extensive agricultural uses, there has been a growing concern about the water resources. For groundwater assessment and management it is essential to have a thorough understanding of complex processes viz., physical, chemical and/or biological occurring in the system. To understand these complexities groundwater model plays an important role. Groundwater models are simplified, conceptual representations of a part of the hydrologic cycle. They are primarily used for hydrologic prediction and for understanding hydrologic processes. During the last few decades there has been continuous improvement in the development of groundwater models. In the beginning groundwater models concentrated mainly on the flow behaviour in groudwater system while recent attempts are made to have full check on the water quality problem and to simulate the contaminant migration in groundwater. Now-a-days models range from simple twodimensional analytical groundwater flow models to complex three-dimensional numerical groundwater flow and solute transport models. © 2008 Springer Netherlands.