Project properties
Title Modeling of groundwater flow in case of density driven flow: coastal region research
Group Soil Physics and Land Management group
Project type thesis
Credits 24-39
Supervisor(s) Sjoerd van der Zee
Examiner(s) Sjoerd van der Zee
Contact info george.bier@wur.nl ; sjoerd.vanderzee@wur.nl
Begin date 2018/04/01
End date
Description Project Description: Coastal regions are commonly characterized by dense populations, many cities, and intensive agriculture. Groundwater is an important resource in such regions for drinking, irrigation, and industrial process water. Groundwater hydrology is often affected by density driven flow due to e.g. sea water intrusion. Protection and management of this resource therefore requires us to take account of density differences, e.g. in the Mega Sand Suppletions at the Dutch coast fresh water reserves are building up now.
Methodology: In the context of a project, a region (in NL or abroad) is selected or a hypothetical situation is defined. The hydrological system is implemented in GMS and groundwater flow modeling is done with SEAWAT, which is able to take different densities of fresh and saline water into account. Modeling is done in steps with increasing complexity.
Research objective/question: Objective is usually to use modeling, to obtain more understanding of the water flow patterns in regions with significant water density gradients. Such understanding may be needed to estimate maximum pumping rates and sustainability of fresh water consumption (drinking or irrigation water), temporary storage of fresh water (e.g. Dutch “Freshmaker” program), or theory development.
Used skills
Requirements Prior knowledge: Subsurface Solute Transport (SLM21306) ; Adv. Hydrological System Analysis (SLM-33306)