TITLE:
Simulation of Seawater Intrusion in Coastal Confined Aquifer Using a Point Collocation Method Based Meshfree Model
AUTHORS:
Alice Thomas, T. I. Eldho, A. K. Rastogi
KEYWORDS:
Confined Aquifer, Seawater Intrusion, Meshfree Method, Point Collocation Method, Diffusive Interface
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Water Resource and Protection,
Vol.8 No.4,
April
29,
2016
ABSTRACT: Seawater
intrusion caused by groundwater over-exploitation from coastal aquifers poses a
severe problem in many regions. Formulation of proper pumping strategy using a
simulation model can assure sustainable supply of fresh water from the coastal
aquifers. The focus of the present study is on the development of a numerical
model based on Meshfree (MFree) method to study the seawater intrusion problem.
For the simulation of seawater intrusion problem, widely used models are based
on Finite Difference (FDM) and Finite Element (FEM) Methods, which demand well
defined grids/meshes and considerable pre-processing efforts. Here, MFree Point
Collocation Method (PCM) based on the Radial Basis Function (RBF) is proposed
for the simulation. Diffusive interface approach with density-dependent
dispersion and solution of flow and solute transport is adopted. These
equations are solved using PCM with appropriate boundary conditions. The
developed model has been verified with Henry’s problem, and found to be
satisfactory. Further the model has been applied to another established problem
and an attempt is made to examine the influence of important system parameters
including pumping and recharge on the seawater intrusion. The PCM based MFree model
is found computationally efficient as preprocessing is avoided when compared to
other numerical methods.