PNNL-13501 - Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Framework for Integrating Multiple Platform Computational Models
Study Control Number: PN00046/1453
Randal Taira, Mitch Pelton
The Department of Energy has invested significant funds to develop computer models for predicting contaminant
transport associated with waste sites across the DOE complex. These computer models are typically media specific
(vadose zone, saturated zone, etc.), dimension-specific (one-, two-, or three-dimensional), and platform-specific (PC or
UNIX), which makes integrating them as part of a multimedia assessment very difficult. The software system developed
through this project provides a platform for the integration of these computer models.
Project Description
The objective of this project was to develop an integrated,
user-friendly software system that can use multiple
environmental computer models regardless of media,
dimensionality, platform, or operating system. We
developed this system based on the multimedia software
system known as FRAMES (Framework for Risk
Analysis in Multimedia Environmental Systems). We
linked the UNIX-based models CFEST (a finite-element
groundwater model) and STOMP (a finite-difference
vadose and saturated zone model) with the PC-based
FRAMES source term model. We demonstrated the
functionality of the linked software using hypothetical
contaminantion transport events. By linking these
models, the project advances our ability to perform
detailed multimedia assessments with efficiency and
reproducibility.
Introduction
Assessing the fate and transport of contaminants in the
environment has been and will continue to be a major
concern for DOE. These assessments typically include
some type of computer modeling to try to recreate the
conditions of past releases or to predict the results of
current or future contaminant releases. The recent trend
in environmental assessments has been toward a holistic
approach to modeling. This approach requires models of
different type (source, fate and transport, exposure, health
impact, and sensitivity/uncertainty), resolution (analytical,
semi-analytical, and numerical), and operating platforms
to be combined as part of the overall assessment of
contaminant fate and transport in the environment.
Our Laboratory developed FRAMES in 1997. The
objective of FRAMES was to provide a user-friendly
platform for integrating medium specific computer
models associated with environmental assessments.
124 FY 2000 Laboratory Directed Research and Development Annual Report
FRAMES is a fully functional software system and has
been used on assessments across the country. FRAMES
has several limitations, however; two of which were
addressed by this project. The first limitation was that the
FRAMES data file specifications addressed only onedimensional
model input and output. The second
limitation was that FRAMES was limited to PC-based
computer codes. Therefore, codes designed for UNIX or
other operating systems were inaccessible to FRAMES.
The development of the two-dimensional and threedimensional
data file specifications and the multiple
platform capabilities greatly expand the usability and
applicability of FRAMES as well as the models that are
incorporated into it. The ability to seamlessly connect
models together expedites the modeling process and
facilitates sensitivity and uncertainty analyses.
Approach
This project consisted of five distinct tasks:
1. expand the file specifications for FRAMES to
incorporate two- and three-dimensional numerical
models
2. develop the network data exchange between models
on a PC and models on a UNIX machine
3. integrate CFEST into the system via preprocessors
and post-processors in order to get the model to
match the FRAMES specifications
4. integrate STOMP into the system using the same
process used for the integration of CFEST
5. demonstrate the functionality of the system by
linking three-dimensional UNIX-based models with
one-dimensional PC-based models within FRAMES.
This scenario would demonstrate the system’s ability