3-Dimensional Groundwater Modeling of the West Coast Basin Barrier

by Shih-Huang Chieh, Camp Dresser & McKee Inc, United States,
Donald Schroeder, Camp Dresser & McKee Inc, United States,
Brendan Harley, Camp Dresser & McKee Inc, United States,
Christine Mejia, Camp Dresser & McKee Inc, United States,



Document Type: Proceeding Paper

Part of: Soil Properties Evaluation from Centrifugal Models and Field Performance

Abstract:

This paper describes a practical application of groundwater modeling of seawater intrusion in southern California. The West Coast Basin is one of the major groundwater reservoirs underlying Los Angeles County. Substantial overdraft during the first half of this century permitted seawater to intrude the basin. An injection barrier was constructed in the 1960s and 1970s to halt seawater intrusion. A 3-dimensional groundwater flow model and a 3-dimensional particle tracking model has been applied to the West Coast Basin in order to evaluate the Barrier effectiveness. The study area was discretized into 963 nodes and 1,835 elements. Vertically, the model consisted of 6 layers and 7 levels to simulate the three major water bearing aquifiers and the intervening aquitards. The injection barrier was simulated at finite element nodal points. Study results are discussed.

Subject Headings: Three-dimensional models | Salt water intrusion | Mathematical models | Basins | Water resources | Three-dimensional flow | Groundwater flow | California | United States | Los Angeles

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