Advanced Modeling of Water Flow and Contaminant
Transport in Porous Media Using HYDRUS Software
Packages (2 credit points)
The short course is organized by the Albert Katz International School of Desert Studies atthe Sede Boqer Campus of the Ben-Gurion University in Israel. September 11-14, 2017.

INSTRUCTORS:
Prof. Jirka Šimůnek,Dept. of Environmental
Sciences University ofCalifornia,
Riverside, California, USA

Prof. Naftali Lazarovitch
French Associates Institute for
Agriculture and Biotechnologyof Drylands, The Ben-Gurion
University of the Negev
Sede Boqer Campus, Israel

Prof. Günter LangergraberInstitute for Sanitary Engineeringand Water Pollution Control,BOKU University, Vienna,Austria

Jirka Šimůnek is a professor of Hydrology with the Department of Environmental
Sciences of the University of California. He received an M.S. in Civil Engineering fromthe Czech Technical University, Prague, Czech Republic, and a Ph.D. in Water
Management from the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague. His expertise is in numericalmodeling of subsurface water flow and solute transport processes, equilibrium andnonequilibrium chemical transport, multicomponent major ion chemistry, field-scalespatial variability, and inverse procedures for estimating the hydraulic properties ofunsaturated porous media. He has authored and coauthored over 250 peer-reviewed
publications and over 20 book chapters. His numeric models are used by virtually all
scientists, students, and practitioners modeling water flow, chemical movement, and heattransport through variably saturated soils.
Naftali Lazarovitch is an associate professor at the French Associates Institute for
Agriculture and Biotechnology of Drylands, Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert
Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. He received his PhD in 2006 from theHebrew University in Jerusalem. His main research interests are creating a better
understanding of water flow and solute transport in the soil-plant-atmosphere system,increasing agricultural water use efficiency using optimal irrigation and fertigation
scheduling and modeling (numerical and analytical), measurements and interpretation ofwater, heat and solute movement in the root zone.
Günter Langergraber is senior scientist at the Institute for Sanitary Engineering andWater Pollution Control at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences,Vienna, Austria (BOKU University). He is the main developer of the WETLAND
module of the HYDRUS (2D/3D) software. His main research interests are wastewater
treatment with constructed wetlands, modeling of treatment wetlands and activatedsludge systems, and resources oriented sanitation systems. He is currently a co-chair ofthe IWA (International Water Association) Task Group on "Mainstreaming the Use ofTreatment Wetlands" and was awarded IWA Fellow in 2014.

OVERVIEW
Soil and groundwater pollution is an ever-increasing, worldwide problem. Tens ofbillions of dollars are spent each year in the United States and elsewhere to remediate
groundwater pollution, and to limit or prevent future contamination of the subsurface.
Most subsurface pollution problems stem from activities involving the unsaturated(vadose) zone between the soil surface and the groundwater table. The unsaturated zone
hence provides the best opportunities to limit or prevent groundwater pollution. Once
contaminants enter groundwater, pollution is essentially irreversible, or can beremediated only with extreme costs. Numerical modeling is becoming an increasingly
important tool for analyzing complex problems involving water flow and contaminanttransport in the unsaturated zone. This course is designed to familiarize participants withthe principles and mathematical analysis of variably-saturated flow and transport
processes, and the application of state-of-the-art numerical codes to site-specificsubsurface flow and transport problems. Additionally, the HYDRUS Wetland Module forsimulation subsurface flow treatment wetlands will be introduced.

COURSE DESCRIPTION
The course begins with a detailed conceptual and mathematical description of water flow
and solute transport processes in the vadose zone, followed by an brief overview of theuse of finite element techniques for solving the governing flow and transport equations.
Special attention is given to the highly nonlinear nature of the governing flow equation.
Alternative methods for describing and modeling the hydraulic functions of unsaturated
porous media are also described. "Hands-on" computer sessions will provide participants
an opportunity to become familiar with the Windows-based HYDRUS-1D and HYDRUS(2D/3D) software packages. Emphasis will be on the preparation of input data for avariety of applications, including flow and transport in a vadose zone, variably saturated
flow through a dam, flow and transport to a tile drain, and two-dimensional leachatemigration from a landfill through the unsaturated zone into groundwater. Calibration will
be discussed and demonstrated by means of both one- dimensional inverse problem. In
the final part of the course, the HYDRUS Wetland Module will be introduced and its
application to subsurface flow treatment wetlands will be demonstrated.

COURSE SOFTWARE
The course introduces a new generation of Windows-based numerical models for
simulating water, heat and/or contaminant transport in variably-saturated porous media.
These include the HYDRUS-1D and HYDRUS (2D/3D) codes for one- and two
dimensional simulations, respectively, and the Rosetta code for estimating the soil
hydraulic properties (and their uncertainty) from soil texture and related data. HYDRUS1D and HYDRUS (2D/3D) are supported by interactive graphics-based interfaces fordata-preprocessing, generation of unstructured as well as structured finite element grid
systems, and graphic presentation of the simulation results. Except for HYDRUS(2D/3D), all software packages are in the public domain.

COURSE HANDOUTS
Course handouts include lecture notes prepared by the instructors. Documentation of theRETC, STANMOD, HYDRUS-1D, and HYDRUS (2D/3D) models, as well as of theHYDRUS Wetland module, is in a DROPBOX folder with access given to each course
participant.

GENERAL
Basic knowledge of the theory of water movement, solute transport and heat transport isrecommended. The participant will bring his/her personal laptop computer (Minimumsystem requirements: operating system Windows XP / 10 CPU with 1 GHz, 512 MB
RAM, 10 GB total hard disk capacity with about 500 MB reserved for installation,
graphic card with a resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels). The course grading will be basedon home exam that will include preparation of short research paper that includes the useof HYDRUS.
Contact:
Naftali Lazarovitch lazarovi@bgu.ac.il
Jiri Simunek Jiri.Simunek@ucr.edu
Günter Langergraber guenter.langergraber@boku.ac.at

COURSE OUTLINE
Monday (11.9.17)
8:00-9:00 Setup
9:00-10:30 Session 1
Conceptual and mathematical description of variably-saturated water flow and solutetransport processes, root-water uptake, nonequilibrium transport, decay chains, initialconditions, boundary conditions.
11:00-12:30 Session 2
The HYDRUS-1D software for simulating one-dimensional variably-saturated water flow
and solute transport.
Computer session: HYDRUS-1D: Infiltration of water into a one-dimensional soilprofile.
Lunch
14:00 -15:00 Session 3
Review of the hydraulic properties of unsaturated porous media; measurement,description, parameter estimation. RETC and Rosetta codes.
15:30 - 16:30 Session 4

Review of numerical methods for solving the variably-saturated water flow and solutetransport equations; Application of finite element method to 1D flow and transport.
17:00 - 18:30 Session 5
Computer session: Application of HYDRUS-1D to a transient water flow and solutetransport in a layered soil profile.

Tuesday (12.9.15)
8:30-10:00 Session 6
Inverse modeling; application of HYDRUS to laboratory and field experiments.
Computer session: Advanced one-dimensional forward and inverse problems with
HYDRUS-1D.
10:30-12:00 Session 7
Application of finite element method to 2D variably-saturated water flow and solutetransport; The HYDRUS (2D/3D) software package – model structure, examples; Preand post-processing with HYDRUS (2D/3D) using the finite element mesh generator.
Lunch
14:00 -15:30 Session 8
Computer session: Application of HYDRUS (2D/3D) to a simple two-dimensional
problem.
16:00 - 17:30 Session 9
Computer session: Application of HYDRUS (2D/3D) to a complex two-dimensional
problem (water flow and solute migrating to a stream).
18:00 - 19:00 Session 10
Computer session: Application of HYDRUS (2D/3D) to a simple three-dimensional
problem.

Wednesday (13.9.15)
8:30-10:00 Session 11
Computer session: Advances in modeling drip irrigation (Triggered irrigation, Backpressure, dynamic wetting
10:30-12:00 Session 12
Computer session: Application of UNSATCHEM to a simple solute transport problem
involving cation exchange.
Lunch14:00 -15:30 Session 13
Computer session: Application of HP1 to a simple solute transport problem involving
cation exchange.
16:00 - 17:30 Session 14
Introduction to modelling of constructed wetlands

Thursday (14.9.15)
8:30-10:00 Session 15
Computer session: HYDRUS Wetland Module tutorial parts 1 (VF wetlands)
10:30-12:00 Session 16
Gujer matrix presentation of biokinetic models
Computer session: HYDRUS Wetland Module tutorial part 2 (VF wetlands)
Lunch
14:00 -15:30 Session 17
Computer session: HYDRUS Wetland Module tutorial parts 3 (HF wetlands)
16:00 - 17:30 Session 18
General session: Student presentations (15 min each) regarding their research projects;
discussion.