Master thesis

Chao Li (2015)
Conception of a high-resolution saturated model for the test site Pirna. Master thesis, Technische Universität Dresden, January 2015

ABSTRACT

The field site of Pirna has been used for many application and development of field exploration techniques. Based on the data obtained from previous investigations and long-term water level measurements, a 3D groundwater flow model was constructed to represent the local hydrogeological condition and flow process. The model was developed using MODFLOW-2005 for the period from June to October in the year of 2014. Interpolation methods have been applied to distribute hydraulic conductivity, elevation of each layer and initial head. Boundary conditions were set as the specific-head type for both Elbe river and Northern boundary. The model was calibrated using trial and error method by comparison of the head difference between the observation and simulation. The most important criteria for checking the calibrated model include Root-Mean-Square (RMS) error, Absolute Mean (MA) error, and percent discrepancy of water budget. The calibration was confirmed with RMS less than 10.6 cm, MA less than 9.6 cm, and percent discrepancy of water budget less than -0.05 for the entire time period. The Elbe river and groundwater are hydraulic connected, the groundwater can either gaining water from Elbe river or losing water to Elbe river. The resulting water table configuration can reflect the flow process within the aquifer and its relationship to the river stage. The modeling result showed the success of stratigraphic representation and could be used as a long-term assessment of the field with continued measurements.

Thesis assignments, main supervision and project coordination provided by the Institute of Groundwater Management at Technische Universität Dresden.