18 July 2018

WhAEMTM Quick Start Guide

This guide is limited to some basic program functions, just to get you started. More
detailed guidance is found in the WhAEM integrated and context sensitive Help
system and numerous pdf documents focusing on specific WhAEM features and
functionalities.

Installing WhAEM

If already successfully installed proceed to the next section: Trying out WhAEM.
Go to https://www.epa.gov/ceam/wellhead-analytic-element-model-whaem
and under the Download Files area click on WhAEM 332 Install. Save and run the
file whaem_332_setup.exe, and follow the instructions. Note: You must have full
administrative privileges to successfully install this program. Contact your IT
department if in doubt.

Note: Some networked machines store the “Documents” folder (default installation
target for the “WhAEM projects” folder) on a network drive with limited access.
This could interfere with proper program operation. In that case you may simply
move the WhAEM Projects folder to an area on your machine where you do have full
access privileges, such as the Desktop folder. After starting WhAEM you would have
to navigate to that new folder location.

Trying out WhAEM

Click on the Windows Start Icon in the lower left dock, and select WhAEM to start
the program. The status bar on top of the WhAEM window displays the version
number.

Open example.whm

Click on the open project icon (yellow folder) below the WhAEM menus and in the
Open Project Database dialog navigate to the folder WhAEM Projects (default is in the
Documents folder) and then the Vincennes folder, and click on example.whm and
click on Open, see below.

After clicking on Open you should see the following screen:

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Several things happened upon loading the project file example.whm. First of all a
base map appears with on top of it a layout of line-sink strings (green, blue, and
dark red lines) representing streams and their tributaries. “Test Points” (red circles
with + sign inside) are representing observation wells in which the head is known.
Also visible is a boundary between the highly permeable outwash of Wabash river
(thick blue stream through the center of the image) and the surrounding low

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permeable uplands as an yellow line. All WhAEM menus below the top status bar
have now become active and finally, a series of “smart icons” appears below these
menus that offer shortcuts to various frequently used menu items.

Check project settings

If you move your mouse over the base map you may notice that the world
coordinates of the mouse position are updated on the lower right bottom of the
screen (make sure the WhAEM window has the focus – click on it if the coordinates
don’t update). The base map in this example project is a set of “BBM” files (Binary
Base Map) that are derived from USGS DLG files. The world coordinates for these
maps are in UTM, which has its origin at the equator and measures distances in
meters.

Click on the Project menu and then on Project Settings…

Two important things to note here.

First the Base Filename (DOS) is an
8-character name to be used on all
files that are read and written by
the GUI and the Solver. It defaults
to some cryptic name, but best to
rename on this dialog so you can
recognize the files in the project
folder as belonging to your project.
Also note that there are two different units in use: Units for Computations and
Distance units in Basemap Files. The first is set to feet, which means that all data
is entered in feet and days. For instance, heads in feet and hydraulic conductivity
in feet per day, etc. The Distance units in Basemap Files is set to meters since the
base maps in use are using UTM world coordinates. In case you would use a base
map with distances in feet (e.g. state plane coordinates) this setting has to be
changed to feet, of course.

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Check Model Settings

Click on the smart icon to the right of the calculator icon (in the image below just
above the upper left corner of the Model Settings dialog).

Aquifer tab

In the image the focus is on the

Aquifer tab (clicking on the tabs
will change the focus). Here we
see that aquifer parameters that
have been entered. The
Thickness is set to 400, which
means that the aquifer top is
400 feet above the
aquifer Base Elevation,
which is set at 330 feet.
If the groundwater
elevations are below the
aquifer top (below 730
feet in this case) the aquifer is
treated as unconfined. The
aquifer top setting does not
interfere with any recharge that
is defined (seen later).

Contouring tab
After clicking on the Contouring tab
we see that Compute Contours is
checked and that Heads is checked.
Under Contour Levels we see that the
minimum contour displayed won’t be
less than 380 feet and the maximum
contour displayed won’t be more
than 500 feet. Contours will be
plotted with an interval of 2 feet.
Under Grid Resolution we find that
Course is checked, which means that
40 grid points will be distributed
horizontally in the window (Detailed
would mean 80 grid points). The
vertical grid spacing is the same so
that the vertical number of points
will depend on the window’s aspect 4
ratio.
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Tracing tab

After clicking on the Tracing tab

we see that Compute Particle
Paths is checked with the use of a
Default Step Size, which is based
on the window size. Also note
that the maximum travel time of a
particle trace is 3650 days (~10
years). This means that if the
groundwater travel time along a
path line becomes longer than
3650 days the trace will be
aborted. For Time-of-Travel
(TOT) Capture Zone delineation
the Maximum Time of Travel may
be set to 1825 days for a five-year
TOT.

Solver tab

After clicking on the Solver tab we

see that the Number of Iterations
(inner loop) is set to 2. Some
iterations are necessary because of
non-linearities in the groundwater
flow problem.

Context sensitive Help

We will check one more thing before proceeding to solve this groundwater flow
problem. While the focus is still on the Solver tab press the function key F1. A
context sensitive Help screen comes up, see image below, which provides access to
all five Model Settings tabs. By clicking on any of the links under the word Settings
to the right of the menu panel a detailed explanation of the options on the tab will be
displayed.

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Solving the groundwater flow problem

Now let’s try to create a groundwater flow solution. Click on the calculator icon to
the left of the Model Settings icon we used earlier. The GUI will launch the DOS
program GFLOW1.EXE, which is the Solver. A DOS box will open and various
messages will scroll inside that box, see image below.

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These messages are stored in the file Message.log and will be displayed in Notepad at
the end of the Solver run after the DOS box closes and disappears.

We see that the errors at internal model boundaries (boundary conditions) are all
well below a percent, often near machine accuracy.

After we click away the Message.log file we can look at the graphical results
generated by the Solver, see image below.

We see potentiometric contours (blue dotted lines), path lines (red), and we also see
that the Test Points have been replaced by small triangles that are pointing upward

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or downward. Below I show the data box that appears after double clicking the test
point (highlighted in red) just above the left upper corner of the Test Point
Properties dialog. We see that the Test Point is a Piezometer with an observed head
of 403 feet. The calculated head is 402.04 feet, see the status bar at the bottom of the
WhAEM window and image below.

In the image below we have zoomed in on the well near Wabash River for which
path lines have been traced backward in time. After double clicking on the well and
selecting the tab Other we see that 40 particles have been released evenly
distributed around the well and traced backward in time. The particles have been
released at elevation 332 feet, which is 2 feet above the aquifer bottom. Since we
had selected a maximum travel time of 10 years (on the Model Settings Tracing tab),
the traces define a 10-year TOT capture zone for the well. Note that this capture
zone extends across the Wabash River.

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It is noted that while WhAEM is a so-called Dupuit-Forchheimer model, hence only

solving for flow in the horizontal plane, it does support (approximate) vertical flow
calculations that make it possible to trace path lines in 3D space. In this case the
well pumps water from across the Wabash River close to the aquifer base. Water
that enters the well at a higher elevation will come from the Wabash River itself as is
demonstrated in the image below where the particles are released higher up around
the well, at elevation 370 feet, and the trace back in time ends at the boundary of
Wabash River. Hence, water entering the upper portion of the well screen, opposite
the river, comes from the river.

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There is much more to explore

There is a lot more to be explored, however. You may click on individual line-sinks
along streams and explore their settings. You may click on the yellow polyline, seen
a few images earlier, that defines the transition from the permeable outwash aquifer
to the much less permeable uplands. The yellow polyline is part of a polygon that is
in WhAEM parlance an “inhomogeneity.” Inhomogeneities are used to redefine the
hydraulic conductivity, aquifer base elevation, and porosity. They are also used to
add areal recharge due to precipitation. There are numerous other features and
tools to improve model realism and help you to create and inspect that model. These
include horizontal flow barriers. Tools include various import and export functions,
graphical overlays.

Ready to create your own model?

Before you set out to create your own model in your own area of interest it is
suggested you consult two more documents that are accessible from the Help menu
and that offer support with setting up your first model, see image below.

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Click on Help and then click on Online Guide for a discussion of the various steps
needed to create a model. You may also open the Online Tutorial from the Help
menu, which actually leads you step by step through an example project based on
the example.whm project we just explored in this WhAEM Quick Start Guide.

The EPA Report “Working with WhAEM’ which goes into further detail on the
hypothetical wellfield case study is available for download from the project
webpage https://www.epa.gov/ceam/wellhead-analytic-element-model-whaem

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