FEHM is a
groundwater model that has been developed in th
Earth and Environmental Sciences Divisionat
Los Alamos National Laboratory
Los Alamos National Laboratory (often shortened as Los Alamos and LANL) is one of the sixteen research and development laboratories of the United States Department of Energy (DOE), located a short distance northwest of Santa Fe, New Mexico, ...
over the past 30 years. The executable is available free at th
FEHM Website The capabilities of the code have expanded over the years to include multiphase flow of heat and mass with air, water, and CO
2, methane hydrate, plus multi-component reactive chemistry and both thermal and mechanical stress. Applications of this code include simulations of: flow and transport in basin scale groundwater systems
, migration of
environmental isotopes The environmental isotopes are a subset of isotopes, both stable and radioactive, which are the object of isotope geochemistry. They are primarily used as tracers to see how things move around within the ocean-atmosphere system, within terrestrial b ...
in the
vadose zone
The vadose zone, also termed the unsaturated zone, is the part of Earth between the land surface and the top of the phreatic zone, the position at which the groundwater (the water in the soil's pores) is at atmospheric pressure ("vadose" is f ...
, geologic
carbon sequestration
Carbon sequestration is the process of storing carbon in a carbon pool. Carbon dioxide () is naturally captured from the atmosphere through biological, chemical, and physical processes. These changes can be accelerated through changes in lan ...
,
oil shale
Oil shale is an organic-rich fine-grained sedimentary rock containing kerogen (a solid mixture of organic chemical compounds) from which liquid hydrocarbons can be produced. In addition to kerogen, general composition of oil shales constitut ...
extraction, geothermal energy, migration of both nuclear and chemical contaminants,
methane hydrate
Methane clathrate (CH4·5.75H2O) or (8CH4·46H2O), also called methane hydrate, hydromethane, methane ice, fire ice, natural gas hydrate, or gas hydrate, is a solid clathrate compound (more specifically, a clathrate hydrate) in which a large am ...
formation, seafloor
hydrothermal circulation
Hydrothermal circulation in its most general sense is the circulation of hot water (Ancient Greek ὕδωρ, ''water'',Liddell, H.G. & Scott, R. (1940). ''A Greek-English Lexicon. revised and augmented throughout by Sir Henry Stuart Jones. with th ...
, and formation of
karst. The simulator has been used to generate results for more than 100 peer reviewed publications which can be found a
FEHM Publications
Abstract
The Subsurface Flow and Transport Team at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) has been involved in large scale projects including performance assessment of Yucca Mountain, Environmental Remediation of the Nevada Test Site, the LANL Groundwater Protection Program and geologic CO
2 sequestration. Subsurface physics has ranged from single fluid/single phase fluid flow when simulating basin scale groundwater aquifers to multi-fluid/multi-phase fluid flow when simulating the movement of air and water (with boiling and condensing) in the unsaturated zone surrounding a potential nuclear waste storage facility. These and other projects have motivated the development of software to assist in both scientific discovery and technical evaluation. LANL's FEHM (Finite Element Heat and Mass) computer code simulates complex coupled subsurface processes as well flow in large and geologically complex basins. Its development has spanned several decades; a time over which the art and science of subsurface flow and transport simulation has dramatically evolved. For most early researchers, models were used primarily as tools for understanding subsurface processes. Subsequently, in addition to addressing purely scientific questions, models were used in technical evaluation roles. Advanced model analysis requires a detailed understanding of model errors (numerical dispersion and truncation) as well as those associated with the application (conceptual and calibration) Application errors are evaluated through exploration of model and parameter sensitivities and uncertainties. The development of FEHM has been motivated subsurface physics of applications and also by the requirements of model calibration, uncertainty quantification, and error analysis. FEHM possesses unique features and capabilities that are of general interest to the subsurface flow and transport community and it is well suited to hydrology, geothermal, petroleum reservoir applications, and CO
2 sequestration.
Commercialization
Recently FEHM has been embedded into SVOFFICE™5/WR from SoilVision Systems Ltd, a GUI driven water resources numerical modeling framework. This marriage of GUI functionality with powerful underlying solvers and complex physics is leading to a new generation of capabilities with applications to a range of hydrogeological problems. Details can be found at the SoilVision SVOFFICE™5/WR websit
See also
*
Aquifer
An aquifer is an underground layer of water-bearing, permeable rock, rock fractures, or unconsolidated materials ( gravel, sand, or silt). Groundwater from aquifers can be extracted using a water well. Aquifers vary greatly in their characteris ...
*
Hydrogeology
Hydrogeology (''hydro-'' meaning water, and ''-geology'' meaning the study of the Earth) is the area of geology that deals with the distribution and movement of groundwater in the soil and rocks of the Earth's crust (commonly in aqui ...
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Groundwater
Groundwater is the water present beneath Earth's surface in rock and soil pore spaces and in the fractures of rock formations. About 30 percent of all readily available freshwater in the world is groundwater. A unit of rock or an unconsolidated ...
*
Groundwater flow equation Used in hydrogeology, the groundwater flow equation is the mathematical relationship which is used to describe the flow of groundwater through an aquifer. The transient flow of groundwater is described by a form of the diffusion equation, similar ...
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Groundwater energy balance The groundwater energy balance is the energy balance of a groundwater body in terms of incoming hydraulic energy associated with groundwater inflow into the body, energy associated with the outflow, energy conversion into heat due to friction of fl ...
*
Watertable control Watertable control is the practice of controlling the height of the water table by drainage. Its main applications are in agricultural land (to improve the crop yield using agricultural drainage systems) and in cities to manage the extensive under ...
*
Groundwater drainage by wells
*
Salinity model
References
External links
More information on this versatile model can be found at:
FEHM WebsiteFEHM Review ArticleFEHM FlyerSoilVision Systems Ltd. website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fehm
Hydraulic engineering
Scientific simulation software
Hydrology models