Calibration of the Hydraulic Conductivities of the Missão Velha Aquifer using the Iterative Hydraulic Gradient Method

Abstract

This paper analyzes the efficiency of the Iterative Hydraulic Gradient Method (IHGM) for calibrating numerical groundwater models through the modeling of the Missão Velha aquifer located in the northern part of the municipality of Brejo Santo-CE. The IHGM converges when the average of the φ angles and/or the RMSEH value reach a predefined minimum value. In the analysis, an RMSEH (root mean square error) of 2.1651x10^(-4) was obtained, which resulted in a maximum hydraulic conductivity of 1.01x10^(-5) m/s and a minimum value of 9.96x10^(-6) m/s. These values are consistent with the expectations for the studied region. The paper concludes that the IHGM proves to be an efficient and reliable method for calibrating hydraulic conductivity in aquifers. Additionally, the UFC-FLOW application proved to be a robust computational tool for modeling underground flow, proving essential in decision-making related to the planning and management of water resources.