Abstract

Many groundwater management situations have similar optimization problem characteristics. Representative examples discussed here illustrate common problem features of hydraulic, deterministic, and stochastic optimization problems. Original versions of these examples were initially developed for REMAX or SOMOS software users’ manuals. Assumed study areas are intentionally small to aid visualization and understanding. Their small size also encourages readers to solve the problems using methods other than those used in this chapter. The types of S-O processing used in each example are illustrated in flowcharts of Chapter 8. Pumping is optimized for candidate pumping wells, also termed candidate pumping blocks. Here, a pumping block consists of one or more three-dimensional cells (recall that MODFLOW documentation uses ‘block’ to refer to a single three-dimensional cell). S and S-O model user input specifies which and how many cells a candidate block has, and the proportion of block pumping that will come from each of its cell members. S-O model output includes optimal block pumping rate (pb_ô) for each candidate pumping Block ô.