GMS

Introducing HydroGeoSphere with GMS

By aquaveo on January 23, 2024

The Ground-water Modeling System (GMS) 10.8 beta includes a model interface that is brand new to the software. HydroGeoSphere (HGS) is a unique three-dimensional control-volume finite element simulator developed by Aquanty that is meant to be able to handle all parts of the terrestrial water cycle. It uses a globally-implicit approach to simultaneously solve the 2D diffusive-wave equation for overland/surface water flow and the 3D form of Richards’ equation for variably saturated groundwater flow. This is different from the many other models that simulate only a portion of the hydrologic cycle. HGS includes components for precipitation, evaporation, overland flow, infiltration, recharge, and more. HGS can simulate both surface and subsurface water flow simultaneously for each time step.

In GMS, the base components for an HGS model include: an unstructured (UGrid), HGS coverages, and an HGS simulation. GMS allows multiple HGS simulations to exist in a single GMS project. A 3D UGrid of the project area is required before building an HGS simulation. There can also be multiple UGrids in one project, although only one UGrid can be assigned to each simulation.

The coverages specific to HGS are boundary conditions, observations, and hydrographs. GMS uses feature objects to define the boundary conditions on an HGS boundary conditions coverage. This includes points, arcs, and polygons. The observations coverage allows you to set observation points that will collect time series information during the simulation run. The hydrograph coverage records hydrograph data during the simulation run.

HGS defines materials with domains and zones. The domain contains information about the type of material. The domain is then assigned a zone number, which is then assigned to a polygon. Multiple domains can be assigned to the same zone.

There’s a lot more to HydroGeoSphere than we can cover in one blog post. If you’d like to learn more about HGS, Aquanty has numerous resources on their website. You can look at the HGS Theory Manual or the HGS Reference Manual. They regularly post webinars on their blog and on their LinkedIn. You can also find videos about how to use HydroGeoSphere as well as presentations that have been made by Aquanty’s staff on their YouTube page. We also have our own HGS tutorials that can walk you through the steps of building an HGS model.

We hope you’re excited about the addition of HydroGeoSphere into GMS 10.8, because we certainly are! Download GMS 10.8 to try out HGS today!

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GMS

Troubleshooting MODFLOW in GMS

By aquaveo on January 2, 2024

When constructing a MODFLOW model in GMS, there is always the possibility that you will get an error when trying to run your model. While there are a number of things that could be keeping your model from running without an error, here are some tips to help you figure out what may be going wrong.

Before running MODFLOW, make use of the Model Checker. The Model Checker will analyze all the current input data for any obvious errors or potential problems, which could save you from having to hunt down individual input errors. The Model Checker gives you a few options for sorting and displaying errors. The Model Checker is a useful tool for a basic check of the inputs, however the Model Checker coming up clean doesn’t necessarily guarantee that the solution is correct.

The next thing to look at in your MODFLOW model when you’re trying to figure out what the issue may be is the command line output from the MODFLOW model wrapper dialog. When the model does not converge, an error message should appear in the command line output. This message will help you know where to start resolving the issue.

Another place to look when you’ve encountered an error is the MODFLOW output file (*.out) in the solution files in the Project Explorer. You can use this text file to check for any missing or incorrect values.

Now that we've covered some ways to check your MODFLOW model for errors, here is a common issues that may be what is keeping your MODFLOW model from converging properly:

An unbalanced flow budget. This can happen if the inflow is greater than the outflow, which causes extreme flooding, or if the outflow is greater than the inflow, which would cause all cells to go dry.
All grid cells in the model are assigned a specified head boundary condition. This leaves nothing for MODFLOW to compute, causing the model to terminate with an error.
Improper initial conditions or boundary conditions.
You have a highly sensitive model. Highly sensitive areas might keep MODFLOW from converging due to the speed at which flow can be affected.
Elevation and layer values have been incorrectly defined or have inaccuracies.

Additional information can be found in the Frequently Asked Questions section of the MODFLOW user manual under the question "My model hasn’t converged. What can I do?"

Use these tips to help your MODFLOW model run smoothly in GMS.

Note this is an update to a previouisly published blog post.

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GMS

Announcing GMS 10.8 Beta!

By aquaveo on December 5, 2023

We are pleased to announce the release of GMS 10.8 in beta! There are many updates and additions that have been made in the newest version of GMS and this blog post will explore just a few of the new tools and functionalities.

HydroGeoSphere

HydroGeoSphere is a model brand new to GMS, which will be available to you in GMS 10.8 beta. The HydroGeoSphere model was developed by Aquanty to accurately replicate the intricate processes involved in the terrestrial part of the hydrological cycle using a three-dimensional control-volume finite element simulator.

3D UGrid from Rasters

The 3D UGrid from Rasters tool is new to the GMS toolbox. This tool is found under the Unstructured Grids folder in the toolbox, and can be used to generate a 3D UGrid using multiple rasters and a 2D UGrid. It creates layers between the rasters using the 2D UGrid and the horizons approach. When this tool is used, the resulting 3D UGrid has no vertical sub-discretization of the layers, and the horizontal discretization of all the layers is the same. More information about this tool can be found on this page of our wiki.

MODFLOW-USG Transport

MODFLOW USG Transport in GMS has new support for seepage elevation and concentration in the Recharge (RCH) package. The Evapotranspiration (EVT) package now supports ETFACTOR.

Color Ramp

The way the color ramp in the contour display options works has been updated, and many new color options have been added to GMS 10.8. The way the color ramp works has been changed to more closely resemble the changes that have already been made in SMS and WMS. If you want a more detailed explanation of how to use this version of the color ramp, you can check out this blog post. The blog post covers the color ramp for SMS, but the functionality is basically identical between SMS and GMS.

There are a lot of new things to try in GMS 10.8 beta, so download it from our website and check it out today!

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GMS

Utilizing the Transient Step Function Method

By aquaveo on November 14, 2023

The Groundwater Modeling System (GMS) provides tools for working with transient MODFLOW simulations. When working with transient dataM in a MODFLOW model, it is important to understand stress periods and how GMS calculates their values. There are two different methods you can use to define the values for a stress period: the continuous time series method, and the step function method. This blog post will cover how to input the data for a stress period in the XY Series dialog so that GMS will calculate their values correctly.

Transient MODFLOW simulations use time intervals called stress periods to define the values of transient stresses such as pumping rates, and river stages. The values for stress periods are entered in the XY Series dialog, which is opened from the Attribute Table dialog. For a continuous time series, you need to enter only one data point per time step. When you enter only one value per time step, GMS assumes that the value continues to increase through the stress period, creating a straight line connecting the two points for a smooth transition. But because GMS needs a constant value for each stress period, it will take an average of the starting values of that particular stress period and the starting value of the following stress period.

The step function method tells GMS that there is only one value for each stress period, rather than a continuously increasing value. To input data in the XY Series dialog so that GMS knows that there is only one constant value through the entire stress period, you’ll need to enter both a start value and an end value. The figure below shows an example of the format to use.

As you can see in the above figure, you need the end value of a stress period to match the start value of the following stress period. This creates "steps" in the data, telling GMS to read a constant value through the entire stress period, rather than having a gradual increase from beginning to end.

Head over to GMS and try creating a step function for your transient MODFLOW model today!

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GMS