Random vortex element modelling of groundwater flow
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Date
2012-06-01
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World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology
Abstract
Exploitation of groundwater for both domestic and industrial uses has continuously been undertaken in different parts of the world. The proper harnessing of available water required adequate analysis of the flow in the aquifer. Successful attempts have been made using finite difference and finite element methods. However, the possibility of vortex element method as an alternative technique was considered in this work. A model was developed using random vortex element method to simulate
groundwater flow with constant head at the aquifer boundary. This was carried out by transforming the governing equation for groundwater flow into a typical vorticity
equation for vortex method. The model was then used to determine groundwater head at varying time for Lagos basement complex with transmisivity and storativity of 5.5 X 10-5 m and 6.840796 X 10-2 respectively. The aquifer thickness varied from 4.0 m to 7.0 m. At the aquifer thickness of 4.0m the predicted groundwater heads varied from 0.0 m to 0.024833690 m, while at the aquifer thickness of 7.0m the predicted heads varied from 0.0m to 0.159134 m for varying time step at 0.1 s. The head differs only from literature value by 2.44%. Random vortex element method is therefore a viable numerical tool for predicting the groundwater flow parameters of the aquifer at any desired location.