Assignment of Boundary Conditions in Embedded Ground Water Flow Models

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Many small‐scale ground water models are too small to incorporate distant aquifer boundaries. If a larger‐scale model exists for the area of interest, flow and head values can be specified for boundaries in the smaller‐scale model using values from the larger‐scale model. Flow components along rows and columns of a large‐scale block‐centered finite‐difference model can be interpolated to compute horizontal flow across any segment of a perimeter of a small‐scale model. Head at cell centers of the larger‐scale model can be interpolated to compute head at points on a model perimeter. Simple linear interpolation is proposed for horizontal interpolation of horizontal‐flow components. Bilinear interpolation is proposed for horizontal interpolation of head values. The methods of interpolation provided satisfactory boundary conditions in tests using models of hypothetical aquifers.