mSim
A Matlab Toolbox for the simulation of non-point source pollution (and not only...)
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Contents
Introduction
The mSim is a collection of matlab functions which solve the groundwater flow equation and contaminant transport. The code was primarily written for the simulation of Non-Point Source (NPS) contamination in large groundwater basins, however the equations that mSim solves are general. For the theoretical documentation of the model see (Kourakos et al., 2012) while the description and real world application see (Kourakos and Harter 2014)
Overview
The mSim functions are organized into folders. The current version contains the following folders:
- mFlow : Contains functions related to the simulation of groundwater flow.
- mTrans : Contains functions related to the simulation of Contaminant transport.
- mPart : Contains functions related to the Particle tracking.
- mUtil : Contains various utility functions.
- mNPSAT : Contains functions related to the Non Point Source Assessment Toolbox.
Pre/Post Processing
The mSim is a finite element based model and relies on two external softwares for the mesh generation and complex data visualization. Gmsh is a free, open source, powerful mesh generator with its own scripting language. The mSim functions assist in creating the nessecary input files for Gmsh. Note that Gmsh can be executed within Matlab.
For data visualization we recommend the Paraview code. This is also an open source code based on the vtk libraries. Again mSim functions convert the results of the simulation into appropriate vtk legacy format for direct input to Paraview
Limitations - future improvements
The current version 1.0 has the following limitations:
- Supports only steady state flow simulation
- Support only 1D steady state transport simulation
- Particle tracking is based on the head gradient
- The Gmsh input files created by mSim do not provide great flexibility compared to the options offered by Gmsh
- The output files for displaying with paraview are written in ascii format which is rather slow when reading large data sets
The following is the list of features we intent to improve:
- Improve particle tracking algorithm
- Support of transient state flow
- Extend the transport simulations to higher dimensions
- Support transient transport simulation