Advances and Limitations of Level Set Methods for Modeling the Freshwater–Saltwater Interface in Coastal Aquifers: Insights from the Henry Problem
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.59675/E113Keywords:
saltwater intrusion, level set method, Henry problem, coastal aquifers, interface tracking, density-dependent groundwater flow.Abstract
Coastal intrusion of salt water into freshwater aquifers is a major threat to the freshwater security in the world. This paper is a critical review of the level set technique as applied in monitoring and modeling the freshwater-saltwater interface during the coastal aquifer system, based on the case of Henry problem. Combined with high-order numerical discretization, and with a suitable reinitialisation approach, level set formulations have demonstrated the ability to accurately solve interface dynamics and achieve better geometric flexibility than traditional modeling methods. Nevertheless, there remain formidable mathematical problems such as numerical diffusion that affects the sharpness of the interface, inefficient maintenance of mass balance over long simulations and computational inefficiencies, especially in the three-dimensional and long-term modeling cases. The study suggests the hybrid methodological frameworks to help eliminate these limitations by using a combination of level set tracking with the volume-of-fluid corrections to improve mass conservation and make it more applicable to real-life field studies.
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