Interfacing the FEMCAD-generated finite-element mesh with the groundwater-flow and solute-transport model SUTRA

SUTRA (Saturated-Unsaturated TRAnsport) is a software package that simulates groundwater movement and solute or energy transport in subsurface environments. The program uses a two-dimensional hybrid finite-element and integrated finite-difference method, and fundamental to this numerical modelling is the issue of mesh generation. Present mesh construction provided by SUTRA is limited to rectangular, equally spaced finite elements in cartesian or radial-cylindrical coordinate systems. Mesh generation is often time consuming, and in many situations a much more versatile mesh is required for effective simulation. This is particularly true when modelling pumping wells, non-uniform recharge and discharge, non-homogeneous soil properties (such as hydraulic conductivity), and various boundary conditions. FEMCAD, originally developed to generate meshes for geomechanics problems, allows detailed and often quite complicated meshes to be constructed in a computer-aided design environment. -from Authors