This video demonstrates how to use the software tool called “TopoDrive’ to create and simulate topographically-driven groundwater flow systems. The flow system is a vertical cross-section with no-flow boundaries on the left, right, and bottom sides. The top boundary is the water table and is specified by the user. Given this specification of the water table elevation, in order to satisfy Darcy’s Law and conserve mass, water must flow across the water table boundary either into or out of the system. The software uses a numerical model to solve the groundwater flow equations, then draws equipotential lines at a constant contour interval throughout the system. Once the equipotential lines are drawn, the user can select a point(s) from which the program will trace a flow line(s), or can specify and array of particles that will follow flow lines through the groundwater system. (15 minutes)
The TopoDrive software can be accessed at http://tdpfonline.net/
A discussion of the material in this video is provided in Section 2.9 “Create and Investigate Topographically Driven Flow Systems” of the Groundwater Project book “Graphical Construction of Groundwater Flow Nets”. Section 2.9 can be read online, or the entire book can be read online or a PDF of the book can be downloaded.
Citation: Hsieh, P. (2020). Flow Paths: How to Use TopoDrive. Video of The Groundwater Project, Guelph, Ontario, Canada.