Leaky and confined aquifer flow analysis

using 3D BEM
J.J. do Rega Silva, J.J.S.P. Cabral & M. Valeria Viraes
Federal University of Pernambuco, Civil Engineering
Department, 50.740-530 Recife-PE, Brazil
Email: 44JJSPC@ NPD. UFPE.BR JJRS@NPD. UFPE.BR
Abstract - This paper presents a numerical implementation of a boundary
element formulation to deal with three-dimensional flow analysis. Steady flow to
a well in confined and leaky aquifer is addressed. The well is considered as a
linear source fully penetrating a homogeneous aquifer. Three-dimensional
groundwater models are needed in several applications in which 2D models do
not give good representation. However 3D flow analysis numerical results using
boundary element methods (BEM) are not easily found in the literature. Some
numerical results are presented to show the accuracy of the boundary element
technique developed and its applicability to major problems in future stage.
1. Introduction
Computer modelling of groundwater flow has been widely used
in many countries of the world. For regional aquifer, two-dimensional
models are used and vertical variations neglected according to Dupuit
approximation. However, there are other cases in which vertical
variations are important and three-dimensional equations should be used
to represent flow and transport process. Numerical technique
improvement for better treatment of these problems are of interest to
hydraulic engineering that deal with groundwater problems.
For some kind of problems, BEM is a quite suitable numerical
formulation: the problem dimension is reduced, only the boundary needs
to be discretized and generally good precision can be achieved.
Additional advantage of integral equations are representation of infinite
domain by only modelling internal boundary and possibility of using
continuous and discontinuous elements in the same mesh.
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442 Boundary Elements
This paper describes part of a computational system for
groundwater management. Advanced BEM is formulated to analyse
aquifer piezometric head according to pumping pattern. Computational
program includes library with several geometric shape elements, and
different interpolation function (linear and quadratic) with variable
continuity degree (continuous, discontinuous and transition element).
2. Integral Representation Formula
A steady state flow distribution defined over a homogeneous and
isotropic (confined or leaky) aquifer Q, with surface S is given by
Poisson equation
V^(j)(x)+b(x)=Q, V;teQ (1)
where the function b(x) indicates a source that may represent injection or
pumping wells in the following form
b(x)=Q(x)/K, (2)
with Q(x) being the flow rate and A'the hydraulic conductivity.
The classical Poisson equation may be written as an integral
representation formula as follows
^ /.- -.\
(3)
ft
for ever % E O , where (f)(x) represents potential function and
denotes an outward normal derivative with respect to the region of
definition of the problem with surface 5. Go(x,y) is the Green's function
for Poisson equation.
If a point x is allowed to approach a point on the surface of the
body, and taking into account the continuity and discontinuity property of
the single and double layer potentials, respectively, across the density
carrying surface, equation (3) becomes
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Boundary Elements 443
for every e S . All the kernels in the above equation are weakly
singular, i.e. O(l/r**) with 0< a < n in a n-dimensional space of the
integration domain. The double layer kernel is weakly singular since for a
Lyapunov surface \ dr/9riy\ < Er* as r - 0, with E as a constant and A the
corresponding Lyapunov exponent, and therefore, dGo/driy ~ O(r^).
The coefficient C(%) is given by
), (5)
When the boundary is smooth at the source point , the value of C()
becomes 0,5.
The numerical implementation of equation (4) will be used for
the solution of the present steady flow problem in which the following
boundary conditions on the aquifer surface may be applied
1. Dirchlet condition : (j)(x) = 0 _ _ (6.a)
2. Neumann condition : d(f)( x )/dny = d(p( x )ldriy = q (6.b)
3. Robin or mixed condition : a . 0 + b. q = c (6.c)
in which 0, q , a, b andc are all known functions. Note that conditions 1
and 2 above are special cases of 3, for b = 0 and a = 0, respectively .
3. Numerical Implementation
The integral equation (4) can be written in the following form,
assuming that the surface S is discretized into a series of L boundary
elements,
L
Wy)-l*3}yly)dS(y)+B(S) (?)
As general procedure in BE techniques, the cartesian coordinates
of points located within each element S/ are expressed in terms of shape
functions I//and coordinates of nodal points. The potential (j)(y) and
flux are ^00-) also approximated over each element through interpolation
functions ">'O and their nodal values.
After the surface discretization, the integrals in equation (7) have
then to be computed over each element S/. A polar co-ordinate
transformation directly smoothes out the weak singularity of order O(l/r).
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444 Boundary Elements
For regular integration the transformation of co-ordinates proposed by
Telles [5] has been applied for quasi-singular integrals, with a selective
choice of number of integration points. The numerical procedure to
evaluate these integrals and the characteristics of the boundary elements
available to model the surface are detailed in references [3], [4], [10] and
[11].
The volume integral in equation (3), ( represented by B in
equation (7) ) do not add any unknown to the problem once that b(x) is a
known function, corresponding to a injection or pumping well in the
aquifer. Considering the well as a linear source with uniform distribution
there is no need to discretize the domain and the discretization is limited
to the boundary only.
3.1 Well's representation
In this work the well is assumed as a linear source with constant
flow rate per united length. In this case the volume integral can be
obtained analytically by the expression bellow [8]
(8)
"J
I % %
where / is the well screen length and r<> is given by %
For a vertical well d = 2c .
4. Numerical results
In order to demonstrate the performance of the developed
numerical technique some examples have been analysed in what follows.
Aquifer's thickness is supposed to be constant, however the proposed
technique can be applied to a more general case, with variable thickness.
These examples have been chosen because of the availability of
analytical or numerical solution. In all examples the aquifer's boundary is
discretized with continuous and semi-continuous elements in order to
avoid discontinuities of the normal at the aquifer's edges. Due to the
symmetry of the problems presented, only part of the boundary needs to
be discretized. Symmetry is considered by reflection and condensation,
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Boundary Elements
445
with no discretization of the symmetry planes [6]. The well is considered
as linear source fully penetrating a homogeneous aquifer.
4.1 Well in a circular confined aquifer
In this problem a circular confined aquifer (radius r-200m and
thickness I-100m) with a well in its centre is studied. A hydraulic head of
200m is considered on the aquifer's lateral boundary. The boundary
element mesh employed for the discretization of the circular aquifer is
shown in figure 1, consisting of 6 quadratic isoparametric element: 2
triangular and 4 quadrilateral elements. The results obtained at internal
points along the radial distance are compared to the analytical solution in
figure 2. The numerical results are in close agreement with the analytical
solution.
2 4 6
1E16
Radial Distance
Figure 1: Geometry and BE mesh. Figure 2 : Numerical results
4.2 Rectangular confined aquifer with two wells
The second example analyses the steady flow in a rectangular
confined aquifer with a injection and a pumping well. Figure 3 shows the
geometry of the aquifer with thickness equal to 1=100m and dimensions
a=200m and b=300m. The wells are placed at x\ = -50m e x\ - 50m. A
hydraulic head of (f)^=200m is considered on the aquifer's lateral
boundary. The boundary element mesh adopted, composed of 22
quadratic isoparametric quadrilaterals elements is also shown in figure 3.
Figure 4 shows the numerical results obtained in the domain at *?= 25m.
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446 Boundary Elements
25,00
Figure 3: Geometry and BE mesh Figure 4: Numerical results.
4.3 Rectangular leaky aquifer
This problem considers a rectangular aquifer (l=200m,
a- J000m, b- 1000m} with a leaky layer (thickness e-50m and hydraulic
conductivity equal to k-10 "^ rn/s) on its top. Above the leaky layer an
aquifer with a piezometric head of </>Q = 1500m is assumed. A hydraulic
head of 0, = 850m and 0? = 900m are considered on two aquifer's
side boundaries, corresponding to planes xj- -500m and xj= 500m,
respectively. The aquifer's bottom and two lateral boundaries are
admitted no flux boundary. The geometry of the problem is shown in
figure 5. The mesh employed consists of 140 quadratic isoparametric
quadrilaterals boundary elements as shown in figure 6. In figure 7 the
analytical and numerical results are plotted and table 1 gives an idea of
the errors obtained.
Figure 5: Geometry of the problem. Figure 6: BE mesh.
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Boundary Elements 447
A nalytical
* Numerical
-500 -400 -300 -200 -100 0 100 200 300 400 500 600
Axis X1 [m]
Figure 7: Rectangular leaky aquifer - Numerical results.
x-Axis (m)
-450
-400
-J50
-JOO
-250
-200
-/JO
-700
-50
0
50
700
750
200
250
JOO
J50
400
450
Analytical sol. (m)
366,J4
a<37,70
&94,J7
906,00
976,27
924,96
9J2,27
9%76
942,65
945,74
947,45
947,77
946,77
94^22
94^45
9J5,22
923,5(5
92^57
97099
Numerical sol. (m)
865,46
879,92
892,99
904,58
9 14,71
923,39
930,65
936,51
940,98
944,06
945,79
946,14
945,13
942,74
939,00
933,85
927,33
919,40
9 10,17
Error (%)
0,10
0,13
0,15
0,16
0,16
0,17
0,17
0,18
0,18
0,18
0,17
0,17
0,17
0,16
0,15
0,15
0,13
0,12
0,09
Table 1: Rectangular leaky aquifer - Numerical results.
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448 Boundary Elements
4.4 Well in circular leaky aquifer
The steady flow to well in a circular leaky aquifer is studied in
this example. This problem corresponds to a circular aquifer (radius
r=250m, thickness I-100m and hydraulic conductivity k-10 ~* m/s) with
a leaky layer (thickness e40m and hydraulic conductivity k10 " m/s)
on its top and a well placed at its centre. Above the leaky layer an aquifer
with a piezometric head of 0^ -200m is assumed. The aquifer's bottom
is admitted no flux boundary. Figure 8 shows the mesh employed that
consists of 54 quadratic isoparametric boundary elements: 4 triangles and
50 quadrilaterals. The analytical and numerical results are shown in
figure 9 and table 2.
Figure 8: Steady flow to a well in a circular leaky aquifer - BE mesh.
200,0
199,5
199,0
198,5
!^ 198,0
jg 197,5
o
= 197,0
(0
196,5
3" 196.C
195,5
1 or; n
._# 21^-
.* \X)--'
* "^o-"
*>"^
o
y
/

*
6
- I
- I
0

o Analytical
-- Numerical
Radius [ m ]
Figure 9 : Steady flow to a well in a circular leaky aquifer - Numerical
results.
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Boundary Elements 449
Radius (m)
7
2
4
6
8
JO
20
40
60
80
100
200
Analytical sol. (m)
795,69
796,24
796,79
797,72
197,34
797,52
798,07
798,67
798,97
799,77
799,26
799,66
Numerical sol. (m)
195,86
196,42
196,97
197,29
197,52
197,70
198,25
198,78
199,08
199,28
199,42
199,68
Error (%)
0,09
0,09
0,09
0,09
0,09
0,09
0,09
0,09
0,09
0,09
0,08
0,01
Table 2: Steady flow to a well in a circular leaky aquifer - Numerical
results.
5. Conclusion
Computer models are extremely useful for porous medium flow
analysis and three-dimensional numerical models gradually replace two-
dimensional ones for several groundwater applications, giving better
representation of physical process in aquifer modelling.
Although integral equation formulations are well known in
several technological areas, boundary element techniques are still not
widespread for three-dimensional groundwater applications.
Mathematical formulation and computational implementation presented
in this paper are quite general, including triangular and quadrilateral
elements, linear and quadratic interpolation functions and several degrees
of inter-element continuity. The results obtained in this work show the
high accuracy of the BE technique applied. The boundary element
method developed is quite suitable for several kind of groundwater
problems.
6. Acknowledgements
The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support
received from FACEPE (Funda^do de Apoio a Ciencia e Educaqdo do
Estado de Pernambuco, Proc. n APQ-0252-3). The third author would
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450 Boundary Elements
also like to acknowledge the financial support of CNPq (Conselho
Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnologico, Brasil).
7. Reference
[1] McDonald, M. G. e Harbaugh, A. W., A Modular Three-dimensional
Finite Difference Groundwater Flow Model, U.S. Geological Survey,
1984.
[2] Gunter, N. M., Potential Theory and and Its Application to Basic
Problems of Mathematical Physics, Ungar, New York, 1967.
[3] Rego Silva, J. J. Acoustic and Elastic Wave Scattering using Boundary
Elements, Computational Mechanics Publications, Southampton (UK)
and Boston (USA), 1994.
[4] Rego Silva, J. J., Wrobel, L. C. and Telles, J. C. F., A new family of
continuous/discontinuous three dimensional boundary elements with
application to acoustic wave propagation. International Journal for
Numerical Methods in Engineering, 36, pp. 1661-1679 , 1993.
[5] Telles, J. C. F., A self-adaptive co-ordinate transformation for efficient
numerical evaluation of general boundary element integrals. International
Journal for Numerical Methods in Engineering, 24, pp 959-973, 1987.
[6] Brebbia, C. A., Telles, J. C. F. and Wrobel, L. C., Boundary Elements
Techniques. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 1984.
[7] Strack, O. D. L., Groundwater Mechanics, Prentice Hall, New Jersey,
1989.
[8] Telles, J. C. F. Mansur, W. J. Wrobel, L. C. - Procat Program Manual
(in Portuguese), relatorio COPPETEC ET - 15206 (internal report), Rio
de Janeiro, 1994.
[9 ] Cabral, J. J. S. P. - Groundwater Modelling using Boundary Element
Method (in Portuguese), Journal of Brazilian Groundwater Association,
pg. 11-36, 1995.
[10] Cabral, J. J. S. P. e Rego Silva, J. J., Boundary Element Method for
Three-dimensional Groundwater Flow (in Portuguese), pg. 447-454,
Brazilian water resources conference, Vitoria/ES, 1997 .
[11] Rego Silva, J. J. e Cabral, J. J. S. P., Three-dimensional Analysis of
Porous Medium Flow using BEM (in Portuguese), Iberian, Latin
American conference on computer methods for engineering, pg.1045-
1052, Brasilia, 1997 .
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