ABSTRACT
Mathematical models are exact tools for the quantitative representation of the hydraulic behaviour of aquifer systems. The reconstruction of a groundwater flow field, which is consistent with a given hydraulic conductivity field and given boundary conditions, nearly always requires the use of numerical models (Király 2002). Analytical models of groundwater flow have been developed since the late 1800s. Numerical groundwater flow models have been applied since the 1960s, and their utilisation for granular aquifers has become every-day practice since then. However, the application of numerical methods in karst hydrogeology demands a specially adapted modelling methodology (Palmer et al. 1999). This is because of particular complexities associated with the large heterogeneity of a flow field (Király 1994).
