METHOD, APPARTUS AND SYSTEM FOR IMPROVED GROUNDWATER MODELING

1 ) A method of groundwater modeling comprising:

a) collecting, inputting, organizing and managing raw data concerning an aquifer in a data workspace;

b) developing a conceptual groundwater model, by creating a structural sub-model, a property sub-model and a boundary condition sub-model;

c) using the conceptual groundwater model to define a set of one or more simulation models;

d) converting the one or more simulation models into one or more numerical groundwater models having one or more grid types; and

e) running a simulation using one or more of the numerical models and analyzing the results.

2 ) The method of claim 1 , further comprising feeding back results of the simulation into the data workspace.

3 ) The method of claim 1 wherein the raw data is imported into the data workspace from one or more data sources.

4 ) The method of claim 3 wherein the raw data is imported in the form of objects.

5 ) The method of claim 3 wherein the objects each have a geometry and at least one attribute attached to the geometry.

6 ) The method of claim 5 wherein the objects carry a revision history.

7 ) The method of claim 6 wherein the revision history for an object includes the creation date of the object, the author of the object, what other data were used for the object, and what operations were applied to the object.

8 ) The method of claim 4 wherein the collecting, inputting, organizing and managing raw data step (a) further comprises performing operations to derive new data types from the objects, the new data types serving as input for creating conceptual model objects.

9 ) The method of claim 1 , further comprising using results of the simulation to identify steps to better manage the aquifer.

10 ) The method of claim 9 further comprising implementing one of the steps to better manage the aquifer.

11 ) An apparatus for modeling a groundwater aquifer comprising:

a) a data workspace having data in the form of one or more objects, each object having a geometry and at least one attribute attached to the geometry;

b) a coordinate system for use in editing the objects;

c) a conceptual model workspace having one or more conceptual model objects in one or more folders, the conceptual objects having been created from the data objects though one or more operations;

d) a conceptual model created from conceptual objects, having a structural sub-model, a property sub-model and a boundary condition sub-model;

e) an editor for editing objects in the data workspace to create the conceptual model objects for the conceptual data workspace;

f) a multi-dimensional viewer to view objects in the data workspace and to view conceptual model objects in the conceptual model workspace; and

g) a simulation model having one or more grid types, the simulation model created from the conceptual model by adding a simulation domain and one or more grid types.

12 ) A system for building a aquifer model comprising:

a) one or more sources of raw data concerning the aquifer;

b) a conceptual model builder having a data workspace for importing the raw data from the one or more sources of raw data, the raw data taking the form of one or more objects, each object having a geometry and at least one attribute attached to the geometry;

c) a coordinate system for use in editing the objects;

d) a conceptual model workspace having one or more conceptual model objects in one or more folders, the conceptual objects having been created from the data objects through one or more operations;

e) a conceptual model created from conceptual objects, having a structural sub-model, a property sub-model and a boundary condition sub-model;

f) an editor for editing objects in the data workspace to create the conceptual model objects for the conceptual data workspace;

g) a multi-dimensional viewer to view objects in the data workspace and to view conceptual model objects in the conceptual model workspace;

h) a simulation model having one or more grid types, the simulation model created from the conceptual model by adding a simulation domain and one or more grid types;

i) one or more numerical models translated from the simulation model; and

j) a simulator for running the numerical models.

13 ) A program storage device readable by a machine tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform method steps for groundwater modeling, said method steps comprising:

a) inputting, organizing and managing collected raw data concerning an aquifer in a data workspace as objects;

b) creating conceptual model objects in a conceptual model workspace from the objects though one or more operations;

c) developing a conceptual groundwater model from the conceptual model objects, by creating a structural sub-model, a property sub-model and a boundary condition sub-model;

d) using the conceptual groundwater model to define a set of one or more simulation models;

e) converting the one or more simulation models into one or more numerical groundwater models having one or more grid types; and

f) running a simulation and analyzing the results.

14 ) The program storage device of claim 13 , further comprising feeding back results of the simulation into the data workspace.

15 ) The program storage device of claim 13 wherein the raw data is imported into the data workspace from one or more data sources.

16 ) The program storage device of claim 13 wherein the objects each have a geometry and at least one attribute attached to the geometry.

17 ) The program storage device of claim 16 wherein the objects carry a revision history.

18 ) The program storage device of claim 17 wherein the revision history for an object includes the creation date of the object, the author of the object, what other data were used for the object, and what operations were applied to the object.

19 ) The program storage device of claim 13 wherein the inputting, organizing and managing collected raw data step (a) further comprises performing operations to derive new data types from the objects, the new data types serving as input for creating conceptual model objects.

20 ) The program storage device of claim 13 , further comprising using results of the simulation to identify steps to better manage the aquifer.

21 ) The program storage device of claim 20 further comprising implementing one of the steps to better manage the aquifer.

22 ) The program storage device of claim 20 further comprising displaying objects on a multidimensional viewer.

23 ) A system for modeling groundwater comprising a processor, a data storage system, at least one input device, and at least one output device, a computer-readable media for storing data, the system comprising:

a) a data workspace for imported raw data collected from one or more sources of raw data, the raw data taking the form of one or more objects, each object having a geometry and at least one attribute attached to the geometry;

b) a coordinate system for use in editing the objects;

c) a conceptual model workspace having one or more conceptual model objects in one or more folders, the conceptual objects having been created from the data objects though one or more operations;

d) a conceptual model created from conceptual objects, having a structural sub-model, a property sub-model and a boundary condition sub-model;

e) an editor for editing objects in the data workspace to create the conceptual model objects for the conceptual data workspace;

f) a multi-dimensional viewer to view objects in the data workspace and to view conceptual model objects in the conceptual model workspace;

g) a simulation model having one or more grid types, the simulation model created from the conceptual model by adding a simulation domain and one or more grid types;

h) one or more numerical models translated from the simulation model; and

i) a simulator for running the numerical models.