ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with groundwater modelling in its various forms. When thinking groundwater modelling, it is tempting to focus on numerical modelling and imagine an ‘expert’ modeller sitting at a computer working on complex numerical modelling problems. Groundwater modelling includes conceptual models, empirical models, analogue models and analytical models as well as numerical models. The most commonly used generic mathematical formulation for groundwater flow is in the form of a second-order differential equation. In plain English, a conceptual model is a simplified non-mathematical representation of a groundwater system to help understand and communicate groundwater conditions. Numerical models typically require the groundwater regime to be simplified and divided into a series of different ‘elements’ to which material properties and boundary conditions are allocated. Occasionally, other methods are used to model groundwater flow regimes for engineering purposes. Examples are graphical models; physical models; and analogue models.
