Three‐Dimensional Model of a Skimming Well

Abstract

A skimming well is a partially penetrating well in a thin unconfined layer of fresh water which overlies saline water in an aquifer. A three‐dimensional, unconfined, transient miscible flow model of skimming well operation, involving both ground‐water flow and the mass transport of salt, is presented here. The Galerkin finite element method is used in spatially discretizing the model; transient aspects are modeled via finite differences. The primary computational features of this model are described that make it feasible to operate the model computer program on a moderate‐size computer. Preliminary results show that the magnitudes of the changes in the salinity of the pumped well water do significantly depend on the local geometry of the well and aquifer.