Meshless method using fundamental solution applied to computational simulation of groundwater flow of real aquifers: study case (Guariroba’s APA and Juazeiro do Norte)

ABSTRACT We investigated the influence of fictitious boundary distance, a parameter of MFS, to determine piezometric levels of two unconfined sedimentary aquifers assuming Dupuit-Forchheimer and steady-state flow hypothesis. Two study areas were modelled: Guariroba’s Environmental Protection Area, in Mato Grosso do Sul State, Brazil, and Juazeiro do Norte City, in Ceará State, Brazil. It was observed that in order to use the MFS as a numerical method in modeling groundwater flow, it is necessary to determine the best distance value of the fictitious boundary. This value can be chosen from the use of field data within the analyzed domain, where the relative error is a parameter to be minimized. Applying this methodology and comparing with the results of the MODFLOW application for the same set of initial data, we concluded that the MSF allows to estimate the piezometric level values within the analyzed domains and that the results of the statistical comparison between them point to the need to investigate the representativeness of both methods to determine which one is most appropriate for modelling the groundwater flow in each region.