All-in-one groundwater modelling solution

Simulate a multitude of groundwater processes involving flow, contaminants, groundwater age and heat transport under fully or variably saturated conditions.

Why FEFLOW?

Simulate all relevant processes in the subsurface

FEFLOW is the only tool you need to simulate all the flow, mass and heat transport processes in the subsurface. Analyse interactions below the land surface by including any manner of underground structures, tunnels and other types of excavation. Extend your model by coupling FEFLOW to other MIKE surface water models to investigate groundwater-surface water interaction. Plus, you can estimate ground subsidence and more accurately predict pumping rates with a hydromechanical coupling plugin.
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Watch this simulation designed to understand the impact of a new underground liquid natural gas storage facility

Take advantage of FEFLOW’s unique Virtual Reality capabilities to navigate your model mesh and visualise areas of interest in 3D

Represent complex hydrogeologic conditions with elaborate, state-of-the-art visualisation

Create powerful visuals using the highly flexible planar, cross-sectional and 3D visualisation – even with Oculus Virtual Reality technology. Present your results as high quality snapshots or in video sequences. Experience an unprecedented level of insight into complex model simulations and use Virtual Reality to navigate the model mesh and visualize areas of interest in three dimensions.

Create robust, accurate and spatially detailed results

With FEFLOW, you can create layer-based, partially unstructured or fully unstructured meshes in 3D. Produce precise spatial representation of complex geology and geometry for rivers, fractures, pipes, tunnels and well locations. Deactivate and reactivate mesh elements within the model domain to account for temporal changes such as tunnel excavations or mine plans.
Create layer-based, partially unstructured or fully unstructured meshes in 3D

With FEFLOW, the decision support opportunities are limitless

Mining

Model groundwater flow, assess seepage amounts and estimate pore pressure profiles to support open pit slope and underground mining design. Create dewatering and worst-case scenarios, assess the hydraulic performance of a tailings storage facility and simulate the fate of contaminants for EIAs.

Engineering

Assess groundwater mitigation and remediation strategies for construction and tunneling projects. Simulate geometric changes in a tunnel, earth material and other underground features involved in excavations.

Water Resources

Identify potential groundwater abstraction locations and optimise scenarios of Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR). Analyse saltwater intrusion in freshwater resources and better understand groundwater-surface water interaction (e.g. by linking to a fully hydrodynamic river or flood model).

Water Quality

Use the built-in Kinetics Editor to account for transport processes from conservative, reactive and multi-species. Couple groundwater modelling with external models to simulate land use impacts on groundwater quality at the regional scale. Assess the impact and design of nuclear waste storage facilities.

Geotechnical Engineering

Design and implement a leakage mitigation effort and address related potential dam failure modes. Estimate spatial-temporal changes of pore pressure based on fully 3D Richards-based solution. Estimate ground subsidence and more accurately predict pumping rates.

Industrial Porous Media

Maximise the efficiency of consumer products and develop innovative technologies and new designs. Create highly detailed 3D visualisation of the infiltration and storage processes, predict absorption behaviour and optimise absorber materials with varying geometry and physical properties.

Geothermal Energy

Optimise urban shallow geothermal systems. Understand potential conflict between future and existing geothermal installations. Assess the feasibility of artificial freezing, modelling scenarios with permafrost, shallow and deep geothermal systems and the potential thermal impact on an aquifer.

No in-house modellers?

Get our expert modellers on board for your consulting projects as a partner, to provide extended user support or for model and project reviews. Submit an inquiry.

See why FEFLOW is the trusted choice of leading groundwater modellers worldwide

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Additional capabilities & unique features

MODFLOW users can now import an existing MODFLOW 6 model into FEFLOW to take advantage of FEFLOW’s superior visualisation tools for results viewing or continue the modelling in FEFLOW. Learn how

Accurate planning is difficult if changing pore geometry squeezes more water out of the pores than predicted. The new hydromechanical coupling module allows users to estimate ground subsidence and more accurately predict pumping rates when changes in effective stress cause changes in pore structure. Although surface subsidence is dramatic, mining applications may benefit significantly from this feature when accurate inflow predictions are critical.

Many FEFLOW projects need to access the FEFLOW kernel during the simulation such as when building a DSS or during a complex modelling project. Users now have greater access to the FEFLOW kernel and better documentation to support such complex projects.

Work with your FEFLOW models in MIKE OPERATIONS. Run scenarios, compare results, and archive your models. Alter boundary conditions and view results across different vertical layers. View the impact of changes in input assumptions on simulation results.

You can now access FEFLOW on Azure Marketplace, where you can start modelling in the cloud with no hardware limitation in four simple steps. Learn more.

Use your FEFLOW models for groundwater allocation, wellhead protection, water volume estimation, water origin analysis and well-field optimisation. Model groundwater/surface water interaction, contamination risks, calculate travel time, analyse catchment zones, capture zone delineation and managed aquifer recharge.

Model all relevant components of heat transport processes including near surface geothermal installations, deep geothermal installations, open and closed loop systems, borehole heat exchangers (BHE), heat exchanger arrays and aquifer thermal energy storage (ATES). Simulate the heat transport in porous and fractured media under saturated and unsaturated conditions including the interaction with heating and cooling installations. Learn more

Model mine dewatering and perform seepage analysis, simulate pit-lakes, forecast possible effects of mine flooding, assess pumping schemes and estimate water volume. Design containment and clean-up strategies for contaminants released in the process. Forecast the effects of mine flooding after abandonment.

Accurately estimate seepage amounts in mining environments to reach expected dewatering volumes and time. Model leakage problems from tailings or earth dams, underground pipe networks or underground waste storage tanks. Benefit from automatic seepage assignment, the possibility to include intermittent seepage stages and cutting edge visualisation tools to identify the location and direction of seepage. Identify unknown seepage locations, analyse seepage conditions or form containment approaches to mitigate seepage.

Assess groundwater contamination for one or multiple chemical species. Define well-head protection zones, simulate groundwater flow paths and perform capture zone delineation for pump and treat systems. Conduct reactive transport modelling including kinetic reactions and equilibrium sorption. Perform risk analyses including best and worst case scenarios. Learn more

Model coastal saltwater intrusion processes, upconing processes below production wells, contamination and remediation and freshwater storage in saline aquifers. Learn more

Perform capture zone analysis of travel time, the remaining time within a specific water body before exiting the model, catchment zones and water origin within each individual capture zone. Perform spatio-temporal optimisation of water resources such as pumping schemes and use of artificial recharge and estimate the water volume required to maintain demanded balances. Model the hydraulic connections between different water systems such as surface water and groundwater as well as different groundwater systems and mixing processes of different water sources, such as fresh water and old saline/brackish groundwater. Learn more

Only FEFLOW provides a unique set of tools for calculating groundwater age, lifetime expectancy and exit probability.This enables you to easily and precisely answer vital questions in aquifer and well-field analysis.

We understand your time is important. FEFLOW is completely integrated from simulation engine to user interface so you can continue your work in a single platform. The convenient user interface will be your constant companion – from initial model setup to the creation of high-quality graphics for a final report or to present results to the public.

All FEFLOW packages include FePEST – a convenient graphical interface for using PEST by John Doherty with FEFLOW models. It facilitates the setup process and gives immediate graphical feedback on the calibration process and more. Also, parameter estimation or uncertainty analysis tasks can be executed in parallel on many computers. Recent FePEST updates expand the calculation capabilities with its built-in cloud parallelisation with Azure services.

FEFLOW is designed to handle plug-ins for extended functionality. A convenient programming interface makes plug-in development a manageable task – even for less experienced programmers. A number of plug-ins for specific needs are readily available.

FEFLOW provides access to almost all its methods through a FEFLOW–Python interface. This interface accelerates daily modelling workflows from pre-processing (material parametrization) until post-processing (automatic export of results, creation of impressive graphics with Python libraries, etc.). Learn more

FEFLOW is fast and designed to handle small and extremely large models alike. There are no limits on model size and FEFLOW employs parallel execution on multicore systems. Matrix solvers include the fast algebraic multigrid solver, SAMG, and the parallel direct solver, PARDISO. 

FEFLOW supports a broad variety of 2D and 3D map data formats for visualisation and data import. In addition to standard file formats, such as ASCII text and MS Excel, dxf and shp, it also supports live connections to local or remote spatial database systems and the import from modern geological software (e.g. Leapfrog, GeoModeller 3D, GOCAD etc.).

FEFLOW‘s physical basis and internally used methods are transparently described in extensive documentation. All parts of the FEFLOW simulation engine have passed extensive benchmark testing against analytical solutions, physical laboratory test results and results from other well-known simulation systems.

In viewer mode, FEFLOW’s advanced visualisation and post-processing capabilities are available free of charge. Model reviewers and clients no longer need a software licence to evaluate input data and simulation results.

You can easily build your geologic model in GeoModeller 3D, GOCAD or Leapfrog Hydro and transfer it to FEFLOW.

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