COLEGIO DE POSTGRADUADOS
Campus San Luis Potosíand
UNIVERSIDAD AUTÓNOMA DE SAN LUIS POTOSÍ (UASLP)
Facultad de Agronomía
As part of the events of the XL Congress of the Mexican Society of Soil Science,organize the Course:

ADVANCED MODELING OF WATER FLOW AND CONTAMINANT TRANSPORT
IN SOILS USING HYDRUS
At UASLP facilities
San Luis Potosí, S.L.P., México,
July 15-16, 2015.

Instructor:
Dr. Jirka Simunek
Department of Environmental Sciences
University of California - Riverside
Riverside, CA, USA

Advanced Modeling of Water Flow andContaminant Transport in Soils
Using HYDRUS
OVERVIEWSoil and groundwater pollution is an ever-increasing, worldwide problem. Tens of billions of dollars are
spent each year in the United States and elsewhere to remediate groundwater pollution, and to limit orprevent 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 be remediated only withextreme costs.
Numerical modeling is becoming an increasingly important tool for analyzing complex problems
involving water flow and contaminant transport in the unsaturated zone. This course is designed tofamiliarize participants with the principles and mathematical analysis of variably-saturated flow andtransport processes, and the application of state-of-the-art numerical codes to site-specific subsurface flow
and transport problems.

COURSE DESCRIPTION
The course begins with a detailed conceptual and mathematical description of water flow and solutetransport processes in the vadose zone, followed by a brief overview of the use 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 thehydraulic functions of unsaturated porous media are also described.
"Hands-on" computer sessions will follow the conceptual session and will provide participants anopportunity to become familiar with the Windows-based HYDRUS-1D and HYDRUS (2D/3D) software
packages. Emphasis will be on the preparation of input data, proper placement of boundary conditions,and employment of inverse modeling for a variety of applications, including flow and transport in avadose zone, two-dimensional migration through the unsaturated zone into groundwater, and fate andtransport of reactive chemicals in soils. Calibration and parameter determination will be discussed anddemonstrated by means of both one- and two-dimensional inverse problems.

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 andHYDRUS (2D/3D) codes for one- and two-dimensional simulations, respectively, and the Rosetta codefor estimating the soil hydraulic properties (and their uncertainty) from soil texture and related data.
HYDRUS-1D and HYDRUS (2D/3D) are supported by interactive graphics-based interfaces for datapreprocessing, 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 thepublic domain.

COURSE HANDOUTS
Course handouts include lecture notes prepared by the instructor. Documentation of the RETC,STANMOD, HYDRUS-1D and HYDRUS 2D/3D models can be downloaded from the HYDRUS
website.

COURSE INSTRUCTOR and DEVELOPER

Dr. Jirka Šimůnek is a Professor of Hydrology with the Department of Environmental Sciences of theUniversity of California Riverside. He received an M.S. in Civil Engineering from the Czech Technical
University, Prague, Czech Republic, and a Ph.D. in Water Management from the Czech Academy ofSciences, Prague. His expertise is in numerical modeling of subsurface water flow and solute transport
processes, equilibrium and nonequilibrium chemical transport, multicomponent major ion chemistry,
field-scale spatial variability, and inverse procedures for estimating the hydraulic properties of
unsaturated porous media. He has authored and coauthored over 250 peer-reviewed journal publications,over 20 book chapters, and two books. His numeric models, HYDRUS-1D, HYDRUS-2D, and HYDRUS(2D/3D), are used by virtually all scientists, students, and practitioners modeling water flow, chemicalmovement, and heat transport through variably saturated soils. Dr. Simunek is a recipient of the Soil
Science Society of America’s Don and Betty Kirkham Soil Physics Award, Fellow and the past chair ofthe Soil Physics (S1) of SSSA, and Fellow of AGU. He is a co-editor of Vadose Zone Hydrology,
associate editor of Journal of Hydrology, and a former AE of Journal of Hydrological Sciences, andWater Resources Research.

PROGRAMDay 1 (from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm)
9:00 Registration
9:30 Short course starts
11:30 - 11:45 Coffee/Tea Break
14:00 - 15:00 Lunch
There is no strict time schedule for the individual lectures, because the length of the lectures is adapted tothe interests of the participants. The sequence of the lectures is given below.

Lecture 1:

Vadose zone flow and transport modeling: An overview.

Lecture 2.

The HYDRUS-1D software for simulating one-dimensional variablysaturated water flow and solute transport.

Computer session 1:

HYDRUS-1D: Infiltration of water into a one-dimensional soil profile.

Lecture 3:

On the characterization and measurement of the hydraulic properties ofunsaturated porous media.

Lecture 4:

Application of the finite element method to variably-saturated waterflow and solute transport.

Computer session 2:

HYDRUS-1D: Water flow and solute transport in a layered soil profile.

Lecture 5:

Inverse modeling; application of HYDRUS-1D to laboratory and fieldexperiments.

Computer session 3:

HYDRUS-1D: One- or multi-step outflow experiment.

Day 2 (from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm)
9:00 Short course starts
11:00 - 11:15 Coffee/Tea Break
14:00 - 15:00 Lunch
There is no strict time schedule for the individual lectures, because the length of the lectures isadapted to the interests of the participants. The sequence of the lectures is given below.
Lecture 6a:

Application of the finite element method to 2D variably-saturated waterflow and solute transport.

Lecture 6bcd:

HYDRUS (2D/3D) software for simulating two- and three-dimensionalvariably-saturated water flow and solute transport, Version 2. Domain
Types.

Computer session 4:

HYDRUS (2D/3D): Subsurface line source.

Computer session 5:

HYDRUS (2D/3D): Furrow infiltration with a solute pulse.

Computer session 6:

HYDRUS (2D/3D): Flow and transport in a transect to a stream.

Computer session 7:

HYDRUS (2D/3D): Three-Dimensional Water Flow and SoluteTransport.

Course Venue and Accommodation
Registration Fee: $3,5000 Mexican Pesos (profesionistas); $2,000 Mexican Pesos (estudiantes)
The information about the course venue and accommodation will be disclosed in following
announcements.
Date: July 15-16, 2015 (from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm)
To register your interest, or book a place, please e-mail franciscojmf@colpos.mx orvmanuel@colpos.mx or call Francisco Javier Morales Flores, 52(496) 963 0240.

Who Should Attend
This course is intended for risk assessors, hydrogeologists, and soil scientists who would benefit
from learning more about the unsaturated zone and the flow and transport processes that occur
within it. The course is intended only for participants from Mexico and Central/South America,
it is not intended for participants from US and/or Canada.
Prerequisites:
••
•
•
•

Basic knowledge in biology, chemistry, physics and mathematics.
Basic knowledge of environmental systems, in particular soil and water systems.
Basic knowledge of soil physical and geophysical processes.
Mastering basic computer modeling techniques in MS-Windows based modeling environments.
Mastering EnglishLocal Organizing Committee
Dr. Francisco Javier Morales Flores, Colegio de Postgraduados, Campus San Luis Potosí.
franciscojmf@colpos.mx
Dr. Ismael Hernández Rios, Colegio de Postgraduados, Campus San Luis Potosí.
ismaelhr@colpos.mx
Dra. Catarina Loredo Osti, Facultad de Agronomía. Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí.
catarina.loredo@uaslp.mx
Dr. Víctor Manuel Ruiz Vera, Colegio de Postgraduados, Campus San Luis Potosí.
vmanuel@colpos.mx

All mail should be addressed to:Francisco Javier Morales Flores
Colegio de Postgraduados, Campus San Luis Potosí
Iturbide 73, Salinas de Hgo., S.L.P.
México, 78600
Tel: (496) 963 0240
E-mail: franciscojmf@colpos.mx