Functional coefficients in the analysis of groundwater flow

Although hydrologists applying finite element techniques in groundwater flow analyses have generally assumed constant aquifer parameters over each element, variable properties can be handled easily by using isoparametric quadrilateral elements in conjunction with approximating equations generated by using Galerkin's technique. A steady state radial flow problem in which transmissivity varies as a linear function of the radius from the well indicates that the accuracy of the numerical scheme may be improved considerably through the use of functional aquifer coefficients.