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 Benjamin Cumming
Faculty of Science, Applicable Mathematics and Advanced Computation
Thesis Title: Efficient large-scale computational modelling of seawater intrusion flow on unstructured meshes with inhomogeneous material properties, with application to the Gooburrum region in North Queensland, Australia.
Abstract: The use of computational modelling in understanding and predicting the dynamics of fresh-water coastal aquifers is an important aspect of water management and policy formation. Human activity, such as bore water extraction to support agriculture and urban water supply, along with changing climate conditions, are placing increasing strains on many coastal aquifers around the world. In many cases this leads to the intrusion of salt water from the sea into regions of the aquifer, an irreversible process that renders the water source unusable.
Previous research at QUT has developed three-dimensional finite volume simulation software for the saturated/unsaturated flow in porous media and the associated salt transport. This project will investigate adaptive techniques for improving the spatial accuracy of the techniques employed in the finite volume discretisation, which will facilitate the simulation of such processes on complex meshes defined over large regions. The resulting software package, called FVMPor, will be used to simulate salt water intrusion in the Gooburrum region.
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