ABSTRACT
This chapter describes some possible optimization strategies and discusses advantages and limitations of the approaches. Groundwater control is required at the very start of most below-ground engineering projects. Geotechnical design teams typically have access to significant computing power in terms of both proprietary numerical modelling packages and spreadsheet-based analytical models. It is a straightforward, and uncommon, practice to analyse multiple groundwater flow scenarios and apply the results to the design of groundwater pumping or exclusion systems. When geotechnical engineers become involved in the design of groundwater control systems, empirical methods are sometimes viewed as being less rigorous compared with numerical or analytical methods. Numerical modelling uses computer software to solve multiple iterations of the governing groundwater flow equations over a model ‘domain’ that is discretized into numerous elements or cells. Conceptual models that are realistic representations of the key elements of the groundwater system are fundamental to the design of groundwater control systems.
