This U.S. Geological Survey report was designed for both users of groundwater models and groundwater modelers. The primary purpose of this report is to help users of reports that document groundwater flow models evaluate the adequacy or appropriateness of a model. A secondary purpose for this report is to provide for model developers a guide to the information that should be included in model documentation.
Groundwater flow modeling is an important tool frequently used in studies of groundwater systems. Reviewers and users of these studies have a need to evaluate the accuracy or reasonableness of the groundwater flow model. This report provides some guidelines and discussion on how to evaluate complex groundwater flow models used in the investigation of groundwater systems. A consistent thread throughout these guidelines is that the objectives of the study must be specified to allow the adequacy of the model to be evaluated.
modified from Reilly and Harbaugh (2004)