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Alexandra Renz, Senior Engineer for
FEFLOW, presenting at the conference. © DHI
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The conference was jointly organised by the Australian National Groundwater Centre for Research and Training (NCGRT) and the International Association of Hydrogeologists (IAH).
DHI offered two preconference workshops on 2 November 2015 titled ‘Modelling groundwater in porous media using FEFLOW’ and ‘Integrated groundwater/surface water modelling with MIKE SHE’.
At the conference, we were represented by Douglas Graham, Principal Engineer for MIKE SHE, Alexander Renz, Senior Engineer for FEFLOW, Bobak Willis-Jones, Head of Department, Mining and Craig Mackay, Head of Department, Water Resources. Our experts shared two presentations:
1. ‘Simulating flood behaviour in the Lower Murrumbidgee River, Australia using an integrated surface water groundwater Model’
The case study investigated the importance of both surface and subsurface processes on the flood plain inundation in wetlands and riparian areas. Craig Mackay presented a MIKE SHE model that captured the hydraulic processes in the river, the dynamic surface water-ground water interactions, and the infiltration and evaporation effects on flooding using satellite observations to confirm the model behaviour. Such an approach is especially critical when evaluating distributed recharge in floodplains.
2. ‘Accurate Modelling of Horizontal Wells and Tunnels through Upscaling of Screen-Scale Flow Processes’
Alexander Renz presented a modelling method for accurately implementing small-scale features in large-scale FEFLOW groundwater models, with consideration of their actual geometrical properties on the local scale. In particular, inverse modelling is used to determine an upscaling parameter for the small-scale inflow behaviour that can be used in the large-scale model. He presented several examples including vertical and horizontal wells, as well as access tunnels, in both water management and mining contexts.
The conference was a great opportunity for us to showcase the capabilities of FEFLOW and MIKE SHE, the two groundwater related products in our MIKE Powered by DHI software suite. Alexander Renz remarked, ‘Uncertainty analysis was an important theme at the modelling sessions, which shows that our FEPEST add-on for FEFLOW is definitely on the right track.’ Douglas Graham adds, ‘The inherent lack of knowledge around groundwater recharge was another strong theme in many presentations, which demonstrates the need for the fully integrated, distributed, dynamic groundwater recharge calculated by MIKE SHE.’
We look forward to seeing you at the next Australian Groundwater Conference!
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At the DHI booth. © DHI
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