A numerical groundwater flow model of Bursa Basköy aquifer

Abstract

In this study, the aim is to determine the groundwater storage and distribution in the Basköy aquifer inside the city of Bursa, Turkey. Preliminary studies were conducted in the GIS environment, and afterwards, groundwater flow simulations were performed in MODFLOWwhich uses finite differences method to solve groundwater flowequations. From point elevation data, a digital elevation model (DEM)was constructed. The subbasins and drainage network were delineated through hydrological analysis of the DEM. The data were transferred toMODFLOWinterface and a grid with a cell size of 15m×15mwas generated. Hourly groundwater level measurements at 7 observation wells were obtained from State HydraulicWorks. The observation data were used for calibration of unknown parameters such as hydraulic conductivity and storage coefficient. Calibration process was expedited by using the Parameter Estimation (PEST) model. Transient simulations were performed in daily timesteps and according to the results, model output was dependent on the initial condition, hydraulic conductivity and storage coefficient. In most of the wells the general dynamics of groundwater were successfully predicted.