Development of one, two and three-dimensional finite element groundwater models within a generalized object-oriented framework

The past 20 years have seen a proliferation of numerical models in response to a need From governments, industry and researchers for tools that can si mulate or predict environmental processes. Although this has led to signifi cant scientific advances, in constructing such models code developers dupli cate many basic tasks and functions. Ultimately therefore, the spread of pr ogress is artificially restricted and the central focus of scientific activ ity may be misplaced. In this paper we examine the potential use of object- oriented programming techniques to overcome this problem and facilitate eas y code reuse and maintenance in the face of rapid advances in numerical ana lysis research. In particular, we discuss the extent to which object orient ed programming styles have an affinity for numerical environmental problems that traditional procedural programming styles do not share. We illustrate this through the development of one, two and three-dimensional finite elem ent models for unsaturated groundwater flow using an object oriented enviro nment developed originally for the solution of the Shallow Water equations. The complexity and quality of the solution that could be developed in a re latively limited period is demonstrated through comparison to three analyti cal test cases described in the literature. Copyright (C) 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.