The term project will involve building a groundwater model of the Woburn site described in the book A Civil Action. We will divide the class into eight groups. Each group will build a MODFLOW model of the site and perform a particle tracking analysis. Two groups will represent Beatrice, two groups will represent the plaintiffs against Beatrice, two groups will represent W.R. Grace, and the final two groups will represent the plaintiffs against W.R. Grace. We will focus on one primary issue: flow paths and travel times. Using MODFLOW and MODPATH each group will attempt to prove or disprove that the hydraulic conditions were such that any TCE dumped at the sites could have reached the municipal water wells within the target time frame. At the end of the semester, each group will submit a written report and we will spend three days making presentations and debating the merits of each model.
The Woburn Hydrogeology Data web site has been established to provide you with data related to the Woburn site. The data on this site are copies of actual investigations at Woburn. There may be more detail here than you end up using, but it is a good resource that you should explore carefully.
The teams will be divided as shown in the following table. The group ids are shown in parentheses.
| W.R. Grace (1) | Beatrice (2) | Plaintiffs vs. Grace (3) | Plaintiffs vs. Beatrice (4) | ||||||||||||||
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| W.R. Grace (5) | Beatrice (6) | Plaintiffs vs. Grace (7) | Plaintiffs vs. Beatrice (8) | ||||||||||||
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In terms of team management, I expect you to do the following:
To support your viewpoint, you should first build a MODFLOW model. While the USGS model has been provided on the web site for informational purposes, you are not allowed to simply use the USGS model for your model. You need to build a model from scratch.
Once you have your initial MODFLOW model built and running, you should then calibrate the model. Once you have calibrated the model, you can then proceed to the particle tracking analysis.
Please keep in mind the following due dates.
| Date | Item Due |
| Feb 19 | Submit team contract (4 pts) |
| March 5 | Working flow model (4 pts) |
| March 24 | Calibrated flow model (4 pts) |
| April 2 | Complete particle tracking analysis (4 pts) |
| April 9 | Final report due (written report = 64 pts) |
| April 9, 14 | Oral reports, discussion (oral presentation = 20 pts) |
To help you with this project, I have prepare a case study data page that includes the data you need to get started and a series of exercises to guide you along.
Each team will be required to submit a written report on the modeling project. I expect each report to be at least twenty pages long. At a minimum, you should describe the assumptions you made and the procedures you modeled in developing your model, you should describe the calibration process, the particle tracking results, and the conclusions you made. Be sure to present your results in relation to the travel time question.
You will be given freedom to organize and format the report any way you wish. Your report should be as professional as possible.
The written reports will be due on Dec 11th at 9:30 am (the beginning of class). This is a FIRM deadline. Late reports will not be accepted.
Each group will be given part of a class period to make an oral presentation of the results. This will take two periods (Dec 11th and 13th).
For the presentation, I would like you to prepare a PowerPoint presentation. In order to view the presentation, I will need to have your files on my CAEDM account (so that we can use the Teacher software in room 234). You can e-mail your presentation to me (this is the easiest method) or you can bring your presentation zipped on one or more floppies. Either way, get the presentation to me at least 30 minutes prior to class so that I can make sure it is set up properly.
Make your presentation last 15 minutes.
The term project is worth 24% of your grade. I will assign a grade to each team based on my evaluation of the written report and the oral presentations.