MODFLOW 2005 and MODPATH 5 model data sets used to evaluate seepage-meter efficiency in high-permeability settings

A three-dimensional finite-difference model, MODFLOW-2005 (version 1.12.00), was developed to better understand how Seepage Meter efficiency changes when installed in sediments with wide range of conductivities. The hypothesis is that coarser sediments will allow a greater portion of upward-flow to flow around the meter instead of through it. The hypothetical model simulates upward flow through unconsolidated sediments in the Seepage Meter Calibration Tank operating at the Denver Federal Center in Lakewood, Colorado. Groundwater Vistas (version 7) was used for initial development of the hypothetical model and postprocessing. Executables and input files were then ported into this archive with public domain executables. The particle-tracking program, MODPATH (version 5), is used to visualize flow through and around a seepage meter in sediments with conductivities ranging from 0.01 m/d to 100 m/d. Fifteen steady-state scenarios are simulated: three different insertion depths (6-cm, 11-cm, and 16-cm to bottom of hydrologic flow barriers that represent the wall of the Seepage Meter) for each of five conductivities (Kall ,Ky, Kz = 0.01, 0.1, 1.0, 10, and 100 m/d). Volumes of flow both inside and outside of the Seepage Meter are calculated with Zonebudget (version 3) and these volumes are presented in the workbook \ancillary\Seep95.xlsx of this data release. The conceptualization and discretization of the numerical model are described in the journal article (https://doi.org/10.3390/w12113267). This USGS data release contains all the input and output files for the simulations described in the associated journal article (https://doi.org/10.3390/w12113267).