FloPy for optimizing the structure of hydraulic-driven groundwater circulation wells

The Groundwater Circulation Wells (GCW) are in-situ remediation technology that can integrate multiple remediation techniques within a single well. An optimal well structure is crucial for the efficient use of GCW. Numerical simulations are most used for design optimization. However, this work can be time consuming because of the complexity of the development and processing. FloPy was applied in this study to describe and optimize the structure of a hydraulically driven GCW at Xi’an, Shaanxi Province, China. Based on the hydrogeological conditions, Python was used to develop a program known as the FloPy library that can construct numerical models for groundwater flow (MODFLOW), particle tracking (MODPATH), and solute transport (MT3DMS) under the hydraulic driving of the GCW. The program can automatically calculate the indicators of the effectiveness of the GCW operation, including the radius of influence (R), migration radius of pollutants (r_m) and pollutant removal efficiency (η). By using the largest influence radius of the GCW for optimization, a model for optimizing the GCW structure was developed. The ideal structural blueprint for the GCW was ascertained through the automated computation of every conceivable well structure in the range. In an optimal scheme, there was a 10%, 14.10%, and 11.98% enhancement in the GCW influence radius, migration radius of pollutants, and pollutant removal efficiency, respectively, compared with the pre-optimization levels.