Physically Based vs. Feedback Control Models: Choosing the Right Approach for Water System Simulation

 Posted by  Jason Lillywhite

We’ve often been asked about the best way to simulate flow between two tanks: should it be modeled physically, based on fluid mechanics, or actively controlled using a feedback mechanism? With the release of GoldSim 15 and its new Controller element, now is a good time to compare these approaches and perhaps even combine them. In this post, we’ll examine the performance of our existing physically based model (Flow Between Two Tanks) alongside a feedback-controlled version using the Controller element. By comparing these methods, we’ll explore their strengths, limitations, and when one approach might be preferable over the other.

Dynamic Coupling of GoldSim and MODFLOW / MT3D

Posted by Jason Lillywhite

From time to time, we hear from GoldSim users asking about the possibility of linking MODFLOW with GoldSim dynamically. This is important because the combined model is useful for integrating accurate groundwater flow and transport models with decision support, hydrologic, and probabilistic models built in GoldSim. Folks at Barr Engineering were able to pull this off using a realistic hypothetical application and presented their application at the poster session of our 2015 User Conference.