title: Writing analytic element programs in Python.
abstract: The analytic element method is a mesh-free approach for modeling ground water flow at both the local and the regional scale. With the advent of the Python object-oriented programming language, it has become relatively easy to write analytic element programs. In this article, an introduction is given of the basic principles of the analytic element method and of the Python programming language. A simple, yet flexible, object-oriented design is presented for analytic element codes using multiple inheritance. New types of analytic elements may be added without the need for any changes in the existing part of the code. The presented code may be used to model flow to wells (with either a specified discharge or drawdown) and streams (with a specified head). The code may be extended by any hydrogeologist with a healthy appetite for writing computer code to solve more complicated ground water flow problems.
authors.affiliation: Water Resources Section, Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, Delft University of Technology, 2628 CN, Delft, The Netherlands. mark.bakker@tudelft.nl
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bakker
authors.forename: Victor A
authors.initials: VA
authors.lastname: Kelson
mesh_terms: D060587:Groundwater; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D011381:Programming Languages; D012984:Software; D012985:Software Design; D014872:Water Movements; D060986:Water Wells