Combining geostatistics and flow simulators to identify transmissivity

The reconstruction of the transmissivity field from the more numerous experimental hydraulic head data, an inverse problem, remains the focus of continuing stochastic-based research. The difficulty of this problem arises not only from the complexity of the diffusion equation that links the two variables, but also from taking into account the physical aspects of the site under study; e.g. the boundary conditions, the effective recharge, and the geology. In practical applications, the validity of purely analytical techniques proposed to date is limited by certain simplifying assumptions, like the linearization of the flow equation, made in order to obtain a solution. For this reason, a hybrid methodology combining geostatistical techniques with deterministic numerical flow simulators is proposed. This combination allows the numerical calculation of the direct and cross covariances needed to cokrige the transmissivity from both the transmissivity and hydraulic head data. The flexibility of numerical flow simulators takes away the need for the simplifying assumptions of analytical techniques to apply the proposed methodology.