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Environmental Science Faculty

Henk Haitjema
Professor
Director, Master of Science in Environmental Science (MSES)

Ph.D., University of Minnesota, 1982

I am a professor at the School of Public and Environmental Affairs where I teach groundwater flow modeling, soil mechanics and science, and applied mathematics. My research interests include modeling and model development of: regional groundwater flow systems, three-dimensional groundwater flow embedded in horizontal flow models (Dupuit-Forchheimer models), multiple fluid flow, and fracture flow. The emphasis of my research is on the application of analytic functions in modeling groundwater flow, the analytic element method, as opposed to more numerical approaches such as finite differences or finite elements.

Previously, I was an assistant professor at the Department of Civil and Mineral Engineering of the University of Minnesota, where my teaching duties were in soil mechanics and where I performed research in the field of groundwater flow mechanics. Before coming to Minnesota, I studied and performed research at the Civil Engineering Department of the Technical University of Delft in the Netherlands. There I worked on both the physical modeling and computer modeling of saltwater intrusion problems.

Our research group focuses on the development and application of groundwater flow models, which use a rather new modeling technique: the analytic element method.

Conjunctive Surface/Groundwater Modeling. Regional groundwater movement is composed of infiltrating rainwater which eventually finds its way to surface waters. Traditionally, when modeling groundwater, surface water bodies (streams, lakes, etc.) are merely seen as boundary conditions on the groundwater elevation. We are now predicting the groundwater inflow rates into the streams, in order to compare it to observed base flows in the streams. By integrating this stream flow analysis in our models we are developing a more coupled surface water-groundwater modeling technique.

Three-Dimensional Flow Modeling. Most saturated flow models, particularly when applied on a regional scale, deal with horizontal flow only. When modeling groundwater flow on a local scale, however, a complete three-dimensional solution may be needed. We are developing three-dimensional solutions with several features. For example, we are including partially penetrating wells in a horizontal flow model. The resulting model is very efficient, modeling three-dimensional flow locally (near the well), while treating the regional flow as horizontal.

Wellhead Protection. A critical part of EPA's Wellhead Protection Program is the delineation of capture zones and the determination of isochrones of time of travel for groundwater from the point of infiltration to the drinking water wells. Together with the University of Minnesota, we developed a new groundwater flowmodel for this purpose: WhAEM, which is distributed by the USEPA. The new model (Wellhead Analytic Element Model) uses linesinks to model streams and lake boundaries rather than relying on imaging or conformal mapping as done in EPA's WHPA model. Our research group has also conducted some innovative wellhead protection studies, in some cases switching from an analytic element model (GFLOW) to the finite difference model MODFLOW. This hybrid modeling approach attempts to exploit the relative advantages of both the analytical and numerical techniques.

Awards

Recent Publications
Approximate Analytic Solutions to 3D Unconfined Groundwater Flow within Regional 2D Models, K. Luther and H.M. Haitjema, J. of Hydrology (229), pp 101-117, 2000.

An Analytic element Solution to Unconfined Flow Near Partially Penetrating Wells, K. Luther and H.M. Haitjema, J. of Hydrology, (226), 3-4, pp 197-203, 1999.

Numerical Experiments on Residence Time Distributions, K.H. Luther and H.M. Haitjema, J. of Hydrology (207), 1-2, pp 1-17, 1998.

Recycling Input Data During Analytic Element Modeling in Marion County, Indiana,, J.F. Wittman, H.M. Haitjema and L. Studebaker, Water Resources Bulletin, V33:1, pp 47-53, 1997.

Using the Stream Function for Flow Governed by Poisson's Equation, H.M. Haitjema and V.A. Kelson, J. of Hydrology (187), pp 367-386, 1996.

Modeling Steady State Conjunctive Groundwater and Surface Water Flow with Analytic Elements, S. Mitchell-Bruker and H.M. Haitjema, Water Resourc. Res., Vol. 32, No. 9, pp 2725 - 2732, September 1996.

On the Residence Time Distribution in Idealized Groundwatersheds, H.M. Haitjema, J. of Hydrology (172), pp 127-146, 1995.

Analytic Element Modeling of Groundwater Flow, Academic Press, Inc., San Diego, 400 pages, 1995.

Current Research Support

Investigation of Hydrologic Modeling Needs for the Multimedia Integrated Modeling System, for USEPA, Co-PI, 2000-2001.

Simplified Capture Zone Delineation Techniques, for Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM), PI, 1999-2000.

Modeling Three-Dimensional Flow in Regional Unconfined Aquifers, for USEPA, PI, 1995 - 1997.