A meshless weak strong form method for the groundwater flow simulation in an unconfined aquifer

Abstract

A reliable flow simulation is essential for better groundwater management. However, the complex flow behavior cannot be simulated by analytical methods and numerical models are often required. The Finite Difference and Finite Element Methods (FDM, FEM) are the most common and reliable numerical methods for groundwater studies. These methods require a background grid/mesh, which makes them complex. Thus, the meshless methods, which do not use a pre-defined grid/mesh, were developed. The meshless methods can be classified as strong and weak form methods. The strong form methods are simple and computationally efficient. The weak form methods are complex and require higher computational time, but are most suitable to derivative boundary problems. In this study, for the first time, groundwater flow behavior is studied by combining weak and strong form methods, with high accuracy in less computational time. The meshless weak strong form (MWS) model is developed by coupling the weak-form Meshless Local Petrov Galerkin (MLPG) method with the strong form Radial Point Collocation method (RPCM). The efficiency of the MWS model is verified using 1D and 2D hypothetical problems. Further, the MWS model is applied for a field problem and the results show the computational efficiency and accuracy of the model.