What's new in Visual MODFLOW Flex 4.0?
Visual MODFLOW 4.0 enables you to do more, in less time, and with greater flexibility. This new version re-introduces some key features from Classic (indicated below with a CL flag), plus exciting new features you've never seen before (indicated below with a NEW flag).
The development team heard from users around the globe that editing capacity was lacking, so this was improved and added many new user-friendly features, including but not limited to those listed below.
Grid Editing Enhancements
| CL | Numerical grid editing - you can now easily edit your numerical grids once they have been created by adding rows, columns, or layers, with full control over where and how many are inserted and an “undo” option if the results are not as intended. |
| NEW |
Fractional grid refinement - change grid spacing (refinement or coarsening) by a fraction, rather than just whole number – For example; you can choose over a specified model area to convert every 3 rows or columns to 2 rows or columns (or whatever fraction you wish). This is particularly useful for grid smoothing to ensure that grid step sizes aren’t too large. |
| NEW | Cell size control - have full control over grid cell size specification during initial grid creation so that grid cell sizes can be set to whole numbers for ease of calculation and reporting. |
| CL | Grid quality indicators - Visual indication during grid editing of cells that violate the maximum cell step size, and flexibility to define the cell step size tolerance for each grid, so you can ensure a high quality grid and reduce potential for grid-based dispersion and/or larger computational times. |
Property and Boundary Condition Editing Enhancements
| CL | Cross-Section assignment - Assign or edit boundaries and properties directly on cross-sectional grid views to help ensure boundaries/properties are placed exactly where you want. |
| CL | Calculated value support - Use calculated values to determine boundary condition attributes – particularly useful for boundaries such as rivers. |
| CL | Boundary condition validation - Internal system checks on assigned boundary conditions to ensure that they meet MODFLOW engine requirements – For example; start and ending heads fall within the cell top and bottom. Flex automatically suggests corrective actions for any violations. |
| NEW | Multi-segment linear interpolation for boundary condition values - Now you have full control to define linearly interpolated values over a section of a boundary, or multiple segments with different linear interpolations as needed, to simplify assigning the boundary values you want. |
| NEW | Copy/paste and bulk property or boundary value assignment - If you have your values already defined outside of Flex, you can now quickly copy and paste them right into the boundary or property zone dialogues. Need a way to insert the same value in multiple cells? Now you can do that too with one click or keystroke. |
| NEW | Visually interactive editor - Would you like to edit boundary or cell values cell-by-cell to improve your model calibration? The new visually interactive editor lets you select a value and see where the cell is located in the grid viewer, or, select a cell in the grid viewer and directly edit the cell values. |
Other Improvements
| NEW | Subgrid creation - quickly create a new model based on a subgrid from a larger model (including creation of all appropriate boundary conditions) with two mouse clicks. This is particularly useful for creation of local transport models from larger scale flow models. |
| CL | DXF support - display 2D or 3D DXFs in any of the Flex viewer windows to use as basemaps and help understand and place simulation results in real-world context. |
| CL | Heads from a previous run - use heads files from previous model runs as the starting point for new model runs to reduce solver run times. |
| NEW | FlexScript DSL Scripting - Hate the mouse and love your keyboard? Now you can use FlexScript to make quick adjustments or exact replicas of grid designs, property, and boundary specifications without having to click through the user interface. |
Version number rebranding
You might have noticed we are also branding Visual MODFLOW with the new version type of 4.0. rather than continuing with “year” branded version numbers. We hope this will make it easier for you to track changes and updates. From now on, new versions will always increment the whole number and minor releases will increment the decimal.
