See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/226101513

Performance of an Artificial Neural Network model for simulating saltwater

intrusion process in coastal aquifers when training with noisy data

Article  in  KSCE Journal of Civil Engineering · May 2009

DOI: 10.1007/s12205-009-0205-6

CITATIONS READS

13 245

3 authors:

Rajib Kumar Bhattacharjya Bithin Datta

Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati James Cook University
99 PUBLICATIONS   948 CITATIONS    204 PUBLICATIONS   4,722 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

Mysore G. Satish
Dalhousie University
45 PUBLICATIONS   1,067 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

Development of Computational Tools for Contamination Source Identification and Monitoring Network Design in Contaminated Aquifers View project

Artificial Neural Network Modeling and Genetic Algorithm Based Optimization of Hydraulic Design Related to Seepage under Concrete Gravity Dams on Permeable Soils
View project

All content following this page was uploaded by Bithin Datta on 05 June 2014.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

KSCE Journal of Civil Engineering (2009) 13(3):205-215 Water Engineering
DOI 10.1007/s12205-009-0205-6
www.springer.com/12205

Performance of an Artificial Neural Network Model for Simulating Saltwater

Intrusion Process in Coastal Aquifers when Training with Noisy Data
Rajib Kumar Bhattacharjya*, Bithin Datta**, and Mysore G. Satish***
Received July 25, 2008/Revised February 13, 2009/Accepted March 9, 2009

···································································································································································································································

Abstract

This paper evaluates the performance of an Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) model for approximating density depended
saltwater intrusion process in coastal aquifer when the ANN model is trained with noisy training data. The data required for training,
testing and validation of the ANN model are generated using a numerical simulation model. The simulated data, consisting of
corresponding sets of input and output patterns are used for training a multilayer perception using back-propagation algorithm. The
trained ANN predicts the concentration at specified observation locations at different time steps. The performance of the ANN model
is evaluated using an illustrative study area. These evaluation results show the efficient predicting capabilities of an ANN model
when trained with noisy data. A comparative study is also carried out for finding the better transfer function of the artificial neuron
and better training algorithms available in Matlab for training the ANN model.
Keywords: artificial neural networks, saltwater intrusion process, groundwater, noisy data, approximation model
···································································································································································································································

1. Introduction ually from freshwater to saltwater. The thickness of the transition

The demand for fresh water is accelerating as the world popu-
lation is increasing in alarming rate. Therefore, over exploitation
of groundwater resources has become unavoidable in many parts
of the world in order to cope with the increasing demands for
freshwater. Moreover, it is reported that at least seventy percent
of the world population live in coastal areas (Bear et al., 1999).
The main sources of fresh water for those people are the fresh-
water aquifer near the coastal region. The unplanned exploitation
of freshwater from coastal aquifers, hydraulically connected with
sea or ocean may cause saltwater intrusion into coastal aquifers.
Many times, the exploitation of coastal aquifers is restricted
because of saltwater intrusion. The contamination of coastal aq-
uifers in different parts of the world due to saltwater intrusion has
been reported by different researchers (Rouve and Stoessinger,
1980; Sherif et al., 1988; Willis and Finney 1988; Cheng and
Chen, 2001). As reported, the main causes of saltwater intrusion
are the excessive exploitation of groundwater and improper
arrangement of pumping wells.
The heavier saltwater has the tendency to underlie freshwater
because of hydrodynamic mechanism. However, a mixing zone
of varying density exists between freshwater and saltwater due to
hydrodynamic dispersion. This zone is known as the transition
zone. In this zone, the density of the mixed fluid increases grad-
zone is generally varying from few meters to more than hundred
meters (Todd, 1980). Some researchers have ignored the
transition zone when thickness of the zone is relatively small. In
this case, saltwater and fresh water may be considered as im-
miscible fluid and the interface would be a sharp interface.
However, sharp interface approximation does not provide any
information about the nature of the zone of dispersion. For large
thickness of the transition zone, the sharp interface model may
give erroneous result. Therefore, it is necessary to consider tran-
sition zone for modeling real world seawater intrusion process in
a coastal aquifers.
Saltwater intrusion process in coastal aquifers can be simulated
by solving flow and transport equations of porous media. The
density variations in the transition zone make the flow and trans-
port processes highly complex and nonlinear. The simulation of
these highly nonlinear processes is also complex and costly in
terms of computer memory and computational time require-
ments. An approximation of saltwater intrusion process in coastal
aquifer would be useful especially when repetitive simulations
are necessary.
Regression analysis and Artificial Neural Network (ANN)
models can be used for approximating the flow and transport
processes in ground water. Artificial neural network, inspired by
the workings of a human brain, is considered to be better than

*Assistant Professor, Dept. of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati 781039, Assam, India (Corresponding Author, E-mail:
rkbc@iitg.ernet.in)
**Professor, Dept. of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur 208016, India (E-mail: bithin@iitk.ac.in)
***Professor, Dept. of Civil Engineering, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia B3J1Z1, Canada (E-mail: mysore.satish@dal.ca)

− 205 −
 Rajib Kumar Bhattacharjya, Bithin Datta, and Mysore G. Satish
regression as it can handle partial information. Many researchers
have presented various approximation models to simulate the
flow and transport processes in ground water. Ejaz and Peralta
(1985) presented regression equations to predict downstream
concentration of several constituents from the upstream flow rate
and constituent concentration. Alley (1986) presented regression
equations to relate the variation in pumping and recharge rate at
five decisions wells to the concentration at nine control locations
for two dimensional transport processes in an aquifer. Lefkoff
and Gorelick (1990) presented multiple linear regression equa-
tions to approximate transport process in an aquifer. This ap-
proximation model predicts the change of ground water salinity
resulting from the hydrologic conditions and water use decisions.
ANN has been used extensively for simulating groundwater
flow and transport processes. Rogers and Dowla (1994) incor-
porated the artificial neural networks model with the optimiza-
tion model to predict the total solute mass removal for treatment.
They trained an ANN model, for a simplified case, to predict
whether or not a given set of pumping satisfies the containment
constraints. Morshed and Kaluarachchi (1998) presented ANN
model to approximate the concentration break-through curves
for one dimensional unsaturated flow and transport model. Aly
and Peralta (1999) trained an ANN to model the response surface
within the optimization model. They applied their model to
design pump-and-treat systems for aquifer cleanup. Johnson and
Rogers (2000) evaluated the effect of using ANN and linear
approximator in conjunction with simulated annealing driven
search for two different two-dimensional ground water remedia-
tion problems. All these studies were confined to one dimen-
sional or two-dimensional flow and transport processes only. The
application of ANN for approximating three-dimensional flow
and transport processes is very limited (Bhattacharjya and Datta,
2005; Bhattacharjya et al., 2007). Bhattacharjya et al. (2007)
used ANN for approximating three dimensional flow and
transport processes in coastal aquifer. They have used standard
back-propagation algorithms with constant learning and momen-
tum rate. However, they did not explore the performance of other
faster optimization algorithms for training the ANN model.
Therefore, the main objective of the present study is to develop
an efficient ANN model for predicting flow and transport pro-
cesses in coastal aquifer. ANN has also been successfully applied
in many surface water related problems, like rainfall runoff
process (Hsu et al., 1995), daily reservoir forecasting (Coulibaly
et al., 2000), river flow forecasting (Korre et al., 2000), river
stage forecasting (Liong et al., 2000), etc.
The objectives of the study presented in this paper are (a)
development of an ANN model as an approximator of three-
dimensional flow and transport processes in costal aquifers and
its performance with noisy data, (b) performance evaluation of
the developed model using hypothetical study area, and (c)
determination of best transfer function of the artificial neurons as
well as best optimization algorithm for training of the ANN
model. The data generated by FEMWATER (Lin et al., 1997) for
an illustrative costal aquifer are used to train the ANN model
− 206 −
with back propagation algorithms. The ANN toolbox available
in MATLAB is used in this study. This paper begins with the
description of artificial neural network followed by the descrip-
tion of the two governing equations, flow and transport equa-
tions, used to generate the required patterns for the ANN model.
The details of developed model are provided next followed by
the description of various standard statistical performance eval-
uation criteria and then discusses the performance of the de-
veloped model and presents a concluding remarks.
2. Artificial Neural Networks
An artificial Neural Networks (ANN), which is considered as a
universal approximator, mimics the function of the human brain
by acquiring knowledge through learning process. The study on
brain shows that brain stores information as patterns. Some
patterns are very complex in nature, e.g. brain allows us to
recognize individual faces from different angles. The learning of
pattern by an ANN model involves finding of an optimal set of
weights for the synaptic connections between the artificial
neurons of the network. The ability to gather knowledge through
the process of learning, like a human brain, from sufficient input
patterns makes it possible to apply the ANN to large scale real
world problems. Once the ANN is trained, the relationship
between the input and output is encoded in the network. Later it
can be used to predict the output based on the information fed to
the input nodes. Fig. 1 shows a single hidden layer feed forward
neural network. The information is passing from input layer to
the output layer through hidden layer, i.e. the information flow is
only in the forward direction. A synaptic weight is assigned to
each link that represents the connection strength between two
neurons. The synaptic weights are modified during network
training process. The input output relation for this feed forward
network may be written as
y = ∅2 [ V.∅1 ( W.x + b1 ) + b2 ] (1)
Where, x is the input vector, y is the output vector, W is the
weight matrix for the synaptic connections between input and
hidden layer, V is the weight matrix for the synaptic connections
between hidden and output layer, b1 is the biases in the hidden
layer, b2 is the biases in the output layer, ∅1 is the transfer
function for the neurons in hidden layer and ∅2 is the transfer
function for the neurons in the output layer.
Fig. 1. An ANN Model
KSCE Journal of Civil Engineering
 Performance of an Artificial Neural Network Model for Simulating Saltwater Intrusion Process in Coastal Aquifers when Training with Noisy Data
2.1 Training of an ANN Model
Training is a process of determining the synaptic weights of an
ANN networks for getting desired output. There are two types of
training processes: supervised and unsupervised training. Super-
vised training estimates the synaptic weights of the network
based on specified input and output patterns. On the other hand,
in unsupervised training, the networks perform classification of
the inputs without using any specified target patterns. In this
study, supervised training process is used.
In supervised training, both input and output data are required.
In this study, the initial synaptic weights are generated randomly
between 1 and -1. Based on the inputs and initially generated
random weights, the network is processed to get the outputs. The
results obtained from the network are compared with the actual
outputs. The errors are then propagated back through the
network and the synaptic weights are adjusted accordingly by
minimizing the differences between the outputs of the network
and actual outputs. The training data sets are processed in batch
mode many times to refine the synaptic weights. The training
would stop only when the network provides desirable outputs.
Once the network is trained, the performance of the network
should be evaluated using another independent set of data to
appraise the predicting capabilities of the networks.
The most popular algorithm to adjust the synaptic weights of
an artificial neural network is the back propagation algorithm.
This algorithm first computes the error signal at the output layer,
and then it is propagated to the input layer through hidden
layer(s). After computing error signal, this algorithm would first
adjust the synaptic weights between hidden and output layers
and then adjust the synaptic weights between input and hidden
layers using an optimization algorithm. These procedures would
continue till the termination criteria satisfy.
2.2 Termination Criteria
The training error decreases with the increasing number of
training cycles. However, the error on a different data set, which
was not used for the purpose of training, called as validation
error, decreases monotonically to a minimum but then starts in-
creases, even as the training error continues to decrease (Burian
et al., 2001; Hassoun 1999). When ANN is used to train noisy
data, it would initially learn the actual pattern, therefore the
validation error decreases initially along with the training error.
After learning the actual pattern, the ANN may try to learn the
noise also, thus the validation error may increase even if the
training error continue to decrease. In general practice, the
validation error is carefully monitored during the training phase,
and the training process is terminated just before the increase in
validation error (Burian et al., 2001; Hassoun 1999). However,
in this study, the training is continued for some more iteration
after reaching minimum of the validation error to check that the
obtained solution is not a local optimal solution. Another new
set, known as testing set, which was not used for training and
validation purpose, is used for determining the predicting capa-
bility of the ANN model.
Vol. 13, No. 3 / May 2009
2.3 Transfer Function
An artificial neuron performs two functions, i.e. summation of
the input signals and transfer of the added input signal using a
transfer function. Transfer function takes the argument and pro-
duces the output. The following transfer functions available in
MATLAB are considered in this study.
2.3.1 The tansig Function
This function generates output between -1 and +1 and takes the
input from -∞ to +∞. The function can be written as
2
tan sig ( x ) = ---------------------------
–2x
- (2)
(1 + e ) – 1
2.3.2 The logsig Function
This function generates output between 0 and +1 and takes the
input from -∞ to +∞. The function can be written as
1
log sig ( x ) = -------------
-
–x (3)
1+e
2.3.3 The Purelin Function
This transfer function generates output linearly which can be
written as
purelin( x ) = x (4)
The function generates output between -∞ and +∞ and takes
the input from -∞ to +∞.
2.4 Optimization Algorithms
During training, weights of the synaptic connections and
biases of the ANN model are adjusted iteratively using an
optimization algorithm. In this process, the difference between
actual and predicted outputs of the ANN is minimized using an
optimization algorithm. There are various functions available in
ANN toolbox of MATLAB to implement different backpropaga-
tion algorithms for training the ANN model.
The traingd function used steepest descent algorithm with a
learning rate and update the weights and biases of the networks
in the direction of negative of the error function. The learning
rate determines the step length. For larger value of learning rate,
the step length will be more and hence the algorithm may
oscillate and become unstable. On the other hand for smaller
value of learning rate, the step length will be small and hence
algorithm takes more time to converge at optimal solution. A
learning rate of 0.05 is used in traingd function. The algorithm
uses in traingdm function is similar to that used in traingd
function, but it uses a momentum factor for faster convergence.
The momentum factor helps the networks to ignore local optima
in the error surface. The learning rate and momentum rate used
in the study is 0.05 and 0.8 respectively.
The backpropagation training algorithms implemented in
traingd and traingdm functions are often too slow for real world
problems. There are some high performance algorithms avail-
− 207 −
 Rajib Kumar Bhattacharjya, Bithin Datta, and Mysore G. Satish
able in ANN toolbox of MATLAB which are much faster than
the algorithms used in traingd and traingdm function. These
faster algorithms can be divided into two categories. The fist
category uses heuristic techniques, the standard steepest descent
algorithm. On the other hand the second category uses standard
numerical optimization techniques.
In the first category two functions, namely traingda and trainrp
are available. The traingda function uses standard steepest
descent algorithm with variable learning rate. The convergence
of the algorithm is highly sensitive to learning rate. Therefore,
this algorithm allows the learning rate to change during the
training process. In the present study, if the current step error is
less than the previous step error, the learning rate is increased by
1.04 times. On the other hand the trainrp function uses resilient
backpropagation training algorithm. When sigmoid function is
used as a transfer function, the slope of the function approaches
to zero at higher input value. As a result, the change in magni-
tude of weights and biases of the networks are very small even
though the weights and biases are far from their optimal values.
Therefore, in resilient backpropagation training algorithm, the
size of the weight change is determined by a separate update
value.
In the second category of faster algorithms, there are three
types of standard numerical optimization techniques for training
of an ANN model. These are: conjugate gradient, quasi-Newton,
and Levenberg-Marquardt. In the conjugate gradient algorithms,
a search is performed along conjugate directions, which pro-
duces generally faster convergence than steepest descent direc-
tions. In most of the conjugate gradient algorithms, the step size
is adjusted after each iteration. Four different functions using
variations of conjugate gradient algorithm are available in ANN
toolbox of MATLAB. These are traincgf (Fletcher-Reeves update);
traincgp (Polak-Ribiére update); traincgb (Powell-Beale Restarts);
and trainscg (Scaled Conjugate Gradient).
Newton's method is an alternative to the conjugate gradient
method for fast optimization. Newton's method often converges
faster than conjugate gradient methods, but this algorithm
requires Hessian matrix information. However, the computation
of the Hessian matrix for feed-forward neural networks is com-
plex and very expensive. There is another class of algorithms
based on the Newton’s method, called quasi-Newton algorithms.
These algorithms approximate the Hessian matrix instead of
actual calculation. The quasi-Newton algorithm updates an ap-
proximate Hessian matrix at each iteration of the algorithm. The
trainbgf function uses the quasi-Newton algorithm. However,
this algorithm requires more computational time and storage
than the conjugate gradient methods. The trainoss function uses
one step secant algorithm. The algorithm does not store the
complete Hessian matrix and assumes that after each iteration,
the previous Hessian was an identity matrix. Like the quasi-
Newton method, the Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm also ap-
proximates the Hessian matrix. The trainlm function imple-
ments the Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm in ANN toolbox of
MATLAB.
− 208 −
3. Flow and Transport Equations
In the present study, the FEMWATER model is used for gen-
erating patterns for the ANN model. The finite element based
numerical simulation model FEMWATER simulates the 3-di-
mensional flow and transport processes along with the initial and
boundary conditions for the flow through saturated-unsatu-
rated porous media. The numerical simulation model FEMWATER
simulates the natural conditions, but cannot duplicate them. The
model is highly sensitive to the grid/mesh cell size and improper
selection may results to erroneous solutions. In spite of all these
limitations, FEMWATER is one of the most sophisticated simu-
lation models to simulate density dependent flow and transport
processes. Interested reader may refer Lin et al. 1997 for details
about FEMWATER.
3.1 Flow Equations
The 3D flow equation may be written as (Lin et al., 1997):
ρ ∂h ρ ρ *
----- F ----- = ∇ ⋅ K ⋅ ⎛ ∇h + ----- ∇z⎞ + ----- q
(5)
ρ o ∂t ⎝ ρo ⎠ ρo
Where F is the storage coefficient, h is the pressure head [L], t
is the time [T], K is the hydraulic conductivity tensor [LT −1], z is
the potential head [L], h is the hydraulic head [L], q is the source
and/or sink [L3T−1L−3], ρ * water density at solute concentration
C[ML−3], ρ o is the reference water density corresponding to zero
solute concentration [ML−3], ρ is the density of either the injec-
tion fluid or the withdrawn water [ML−3].
The hydraulic conductivity K[LT−1] is depended on fluid
density (ρ)[ML−3], viscosity (µ)[ML−1T −1], and acceleration due
gravity (g)[LT−2], The hydraulic conductivity K[LT −1] is defined
as,
kρg
K = --------- (6)
µ
Where, k is the permeability tensor [L2].
The density (ρ)[ML−3] and dynamic viscosity (µ)[ML−1T −1] of
water are depended on solute concentration. For saltwater in-
trusion, the relation between fluid density and solute concen-
tration is expressed as (Lin et al., 1997),
ρS – ρo⎞
ρ = ρo ( 1 + ε c ) where, ε = ⎛⎝ --------------
- (7)
ρo ⎠
where, c is the dimensionless solute concentration, ε is the
density deference ratio, ρ S is the solute concentration corres-
ponding to maximum density of fluid [ML−3], and ρo is the
reference water density corresponding to zero solute concen-
tration [ML−3].
The Darcy velocity is calculated as given bellow
ρ
V = –K ⎛ -----o ∇h + ∇z⎞ (8)
⎝ρ ⎠
3.2 Transport Equation
The governing equation of contaminant transport for disper-
KSCE Journal of Civil Engineering
 Performance of an Artificial Neural Network Model for Simulating Saltwater Intrusion Process in Coastal Aquifers when Training with Noisy Data

sion/diffusion, adsorption, and source/sink used in FEMWATER N

o p

model is written as (Lin et al., 1997): ∑ ( Cno – Cn )( Cnp – Cn )

i=1
R = --------------------------------------------------------- (13)
N
∂C ∂S o 2 p 2
θ ------ + ρ ----- + V. ∇C – ∇. ( θ D. ∇C )
∂t ∂t ∑ ( Cno – C ) ( Cnp – C )
n n
i=1
∂h ρ* ∂h ρ ρ ∂θ
= –⎛ α' -----⎞ ( θ C + ρb S ) – ----- qC + ⎛ F ----- + -----o V. ∇⎛ -----⎞ – ------⎞ C (9)
⎝ ∂t ⎠ ρ ⎝ ∂t ρ ⎝ ρo⎠ ∂t ⎠ Here, Cno is the observed saltwater concentration, Cnp [ML−3] is
the predicted saltwater concentration, Cno [ML−3] is the mean of
Where, θ is the moisture concentration; ρ b is the bulk density of
observed concentration, Cnp [ML−3] is the mean of predicted
the medium [ML −3]; C is the solute concentration in aqueous
concentration, and N is the number of data points, nx is the
phase [ML −3]; S is the solute concentration in adsorbed phase
number of data points for which the Absolute Relative Error
[ML −3]; D is the dispersion tensor [L 2T −1].
(ARE) is less than x%. The ARE may be written as
4. Model Development
ARE = C n – C n × 100
o p
----------------
- (14)
Cn p

This study employed ANN technique for approximating the

flow and transport processes in coastal aquifer. The model pre-
dicts salt concentration at pre-specified locations for different
time steps. The salt concentration also varies along the depth of
the aquifer. Therefore, the model is developed in order to predict
the salt concentration at top and bottom of the aquifer. The inputs
to the ANN model are the pumping and recharge values at
different time steps. The relation between inputs and outputs
may be expressed as:
⎧ ( CTopji, i = 1…No, j = 1…T ), ⎫ ⎧ ( Pji, i = 1…Np, j = 1…T ), ⎫
⎨ ⎬ = f⎨ i ⎬
⎩ ( CBotj , i = 1…No, j = 1…T ) ⎭ ⎩ ( Rj , i = 1…NR, j = 1…T ) ⎭
i
The threshold statistics is computed for ARE level of 5%, 10%,
20%, 30%, 40%, and 50%. It can be noted that lower AARE
value and higher TSx and R values indicate better model
performance.
6. Performance Evaluation Using an Illustrative
Study Area
6.1 Illustrative Study Area
An illustrative study area as shown in Fig. 2 has been con-

(10)
Here, i is the index for location and j is the index for time step.
CTopij [ML −3] is the saltwater concentration at top of the aquifer
for location i and for j th time step. CBotij [ML −3] is the saltwater
concentration at bottom of the aquifer for location i and for jth
time step. Pij [L3T −1] is the pumping from location i and for j th
time step, and Rij [L3T−1] is the pumping from location i and for
j th time step, No is the number of observation locations, Np is the
number of pumping locations, NR is the number of recharge well
locations, T is the total number of time steps.

5. Performance Measure

The performance of the model is evaluated employing three

different types of standard statistical performance evaluation
criteria. These are average absolute relative error (AARE) (Jain et
al., 2005) threshold statistics for an absolute relative error (Jain
et al., 2005) level of x% (TSx) (Jain and Kumar, 2006), and
coefficient of correlation (R) (Jain et al., 2005). These three
performance evaluation criteria can be calculated using the
following equations.

1 N Cno – Cnp
- × 100
AARE = ---- ∑ ---------------- (11)
N i = 1 Cnp

n
TSx = ----x × 100 (12)
N Fig. 2. Illustrative Study Area

Vol. 13, No. 3 / May 2009 − 209 −

 Rajib Kumar Bhattacharjya, Bithin Datta, and Mysore G. Satish

sidered for evaluating the performance of the ANN model. The
area of the aquifers is approximately 2.59 Km2 and the thickness
of the aquifer is 50 m. The confined aquifer system is subjected
to saltwater intrusion along the coastal side of the study area. The
left hand face of the aquifer is the ocean face which allows the
saltwater to enter in to the aquifers through the bottom of the
aquifers, and also allows the exit of the mixed water from the top
of the aquifers. It is assumed that mixed water can exit the
aquifer through the top 20% of the aquifer at the ocean face (Das
and Datta, 2000). The right hand side of the aquifers is inland
face, which allows fresh water to enter in to the aquifers. The
other four faces, front, back, top and the bottom of the aquifer are
considered as impermeable. The three-dimensional confined
hypothetical aquifer is assumed to be homogeneous and isotro-
pic, with respect to the fresh water hydraulic conductivity, mole-
cular diffusion and longitudinal and transverse dispersivities.
The value of the aquifer parameters used in the study are listed in
Table 1.
The boundary condition in the aquifer (Fig. 2) is considered as
time invariant. The flow boundary condition on the ocean face is
considered as hydrostatic in vertical direction. It is assumed to be
constant throughout the ocean face. On the inland face, the
reference hydraulic head is varying linearly along the length of
the inland face. The adjective mixed outflux can exit through the
top 20% portion of the aquifer. In this portion, the concentration
gradient normal to the ocean face is equal to zero. In the rest 80%
of the ocean face, the solute concentration is equal to one as it
allows influx of saltwater into the aquifer. The solute concentra-
tion is equal to zero on the inland face. Further, the solute con-
centration gradient normal to the other four faces of the aquifer is
set equal to zero. Steady state reference hydraulic head and
concentration are assumed as the initial condition for transient
flow and transport.
Fig. 2 also shows the locations of the pumping and recharge
wells. The water is pumped from the middle layer of the aquifer
and also recharged at the middle layer of the aquifer. The pump-
ing from the aquifer is considered as transient. A stress period of
180 days is considered in case of pumping and recharge and it is
considered that the pumping and recharge rates are constant for a
particular stress period. The pumping patterns are generated
randomly using a uniform distribution function. The transient
pumping and recharge values are taken as input to the ANN
model. Therefore, the input to the ANN model is equal to 18 (6
well and 3 time steps). The observation locations are also shown
in Fig. 2. There are three observation locations and concentra-
tions at top and bottom of the aquifer are predicted by the ANN
model. Therefore, total number of outputs is equal to 18 (6 for
each time steps).
6.2 Generation of ANN Patterns
The training, validation and testing patterns are generated
using finite element based FEMWATER model. The input to the
ANN model is the set of transient pumping and recharges rates.
These pumping values are generated using a uniform distribution
for specified upper and lower limits. In this study, the upper limit
of pumping is taken as 5000 m3/day and upper limit of recharge
is taken as 1000 m3/day. The lower limit for both pumping and
recharge are taken as zero m3/day. The set of transient pumping
and recharge values are then used as input for the FEMWATER
model for transient simulation over a three time period. The
resulting concentrations at selected observation locations at dif-
ferent time step are specified as output patterns. Fig. 3 shows a
typical concentration distribution in the aquifer. For training,
validation and testing purpose, 636 patterns are generated using
FEMWATER model. The set of generated patterns has been
divided into three parts, 20% of the patterns are kept for testing,
20% of patterns for validation, and remaining 60% are used for
training the neural network. Once trained, outputs from the ANN
model are the concentration at observation locations at different
time steps.

Table 1. Values of Aquifer Parameters

Aquifer parameters Value
o
Hydraulic Conductivity in x direction K , m/day
xx 20.000
Hydraulic Conductivity in y direction K oyy, m/day 0.200
o
Hydraulic Conductivity in z direction K , m/day
zz 20.000
Longitudinal dispersivity α l, m 25.000
Lateral dispersivity α t, m 5.000
Molecular diffusion do , m/day 0.660
Density difference ratio ε 0.025
Fig. 3. Concentration Distribution in the Aquifer after Second Time
Soil porosity φ 0.260 Step

− 210 − KSCE Journal of Civil Engineering

 Performance of an Artificial Neural Network Model for Simulating Saltwater Intrusion Process in Coastal Aquifers when Training with Noisy Data

6.3 Selection of Transfer Functions and Optimization Algo- Table 3. Performance of Different Transfer Function for Normal-
rithm ization 2
This is not known in advance that how many hidden neurons Transfer function
MSE
are required for better model performance. An increase in num- Hidden Layer Output Layer
ber of hidden neurons may increase the capability of the ANN tansig tansig 0.1744
model to map more complex system. However, computational
tansig logsig 0.5664
complexity also increases with the increase in hidden neurons. In
this study trial and error method is adopted to find the number of tansig purelin 0.0411
hidden neurons. The study shows that 20 neurons in the hidden logsig tansig 0.1660
layer yield better model performance. Therefore, the ANN logsig logsig 0.5704
architecture considers in this study is 18-20-18. logsig purelin 0.3790
A study is carried out for finding the best combination of
purelin tansig 0.1941
transfer functions for the artificial neurons in the hidden layer
purelin logsig 0.5792
and also in the output layer. The best combination of transfer
functions is evaluated on the basis of Mean Square Error (MSE) purelin purelin 0.0693
of the training pattern. The trainlm optimization function is used
to train the networks. Table 2 shows the MSE values for the patterns are normalized between -1 and +1. Table 4 shows the
training patterns for different combinations of transfer functions. performance of the different optimization algorithms available in
The data are normalized between -1 and +1. It may be observed ANN toolbox of MATLAB in terms of MSE of training data,
that tansig transfer function for the neurons in hidden layer and computational time required, and number of iterations perform-
purelin transfer function for the neurons in output layers result ed. It may be observed that trainlm optimization function pro-
better model performance. In this case, the value of MSE is duced better model performance in terms of mean square error
0.0020. Table 3 shows the MSE value for the training patterns (MSE). The value of MSE is 0.0020. This algorithm took 181.19
for different combinations of transfer functions, when the data seconds of computational time. On the other hand trainscg took
are normalized for mean zero and Standard Deviation (SD) one. less computational time, i.e. 4.150 seconds. However, in this
This time also, tansig-purelin combination shows better model case, the MSE (0.0081) is higher than the MSE achieved with
performance with respect to MSE statistics. The value of MSE is trainlm function. The traingda, traingdx, trainrp, traincgf,
0.0411. Therefore, tansig-purelin combination of transfer func- traincgp, and traincgb are better in terms of computational time
tion is used for rest of the study. It can be observed that the ANN requirement. These algorithms require only 4 to 10 seconds for
model performance is better when the patterns are normalized training the networks. However, the performance of these algori-
between -1 and +1. Therefore, for rest of the study, the input thms is not better than trainlm. Therefore, trainlm function is
output patterns are normalized between -1 and +1. used for rest of this study.
A separate study is also carried out for finding the best opti-
mization algorithm to train the networks. For this purpose also, 6.4 Performance of ANN Model
18-20-18 ANN architecture is used. The tansig transfer function The evaluations of the ANN model are performed in terms of
for the neurons in the hidden layer and purelin transfer function
for the neurons in the output layer is used. The input and output Table 4. Performance of Different Optimization Algorithms
Training Computational
MSE Iteration
Table 2. Performance of Different Transfer Function for Normal- algorithms time (sec)
ization 1 traingd 0.0059 1205.79 57858
Transfer function traingdm 0.0080 192.50 8658
MSE
Hidden Layers Output Layer traingda 0.0206 6.48 323
tansig tansig 0.0054 traingdx 0.0110 5.20 263
tansig logsig 0.1125 trainrp 0.0085 5.29 246
tansig purelin 0.0020 traincgf 0.0076 6.42 118
logsig tansig 0.2194 traincgp 0.0054 9.23 216
logsig logsig 0.1151 traincgb 0.0074 4.32 85
logsig purelin 0.0047 trainscg 0.0081 4.15 103
purelin tansig 0.0091 trainbfg 0.0064 43.70 140
purelin logsig 0.1168 trainoss 0.0090 13.28 107
purelin purelin 0.0093 trainlm 0.0020 180.19 17

Vol. 13, No. 3 / May 2009 − 211 −

 Rajib Kumar Bhattacharjya, Bithin Datta, and Mysore G. Satish
the magnitude of errors during in testing phase using different
standard statistical criteria. The statistical criteria used in the
study are average absolute relative error, threshold statistics and
coefficient of correlation.
Fig. 4 to Fig. 6 show the accuracy of the ANN model in pre-
dicting flow and transport processes in coastal aquifer. These
scatter plots show the degree of correlation between the actual
and predicted saltwater concentrations. The actual concentrations
are those values simulated using the numerical simulation model.
The prediction values are those produced by the ANN model. It
may be observed from the figures that the actual and predicted
salt concentrations are almost equal which shows the high
Fig. 4. Scatter Plot for Output 2
Fig. 5. Scatter Plot for Output 9
− 212 −
Fig. 6. Scatter Plot for Output 18
predicting capability of the ANN model.
Table 5 summarizes the ANN model performance by various
statistical parameters for the testing patterns. The prediction
quality of the ANN model is superior in terms of AARE and R
criteria. The highest value of AARE encountered here is 8.04%
and the lowest is 1.00% with as average value of 3.02. Similarly,
the highest value of R is 0.999 and the lowest is 0.960 with as
average value of 0.987. The AARE values are small and are in
acceptable range. Similarly, R values are also higher side and
shows better predicting capabilities of the ANN model. The
performance of the model is also superior in terms of TSx
statistics. The highest value of TS5 is 99.32% and the lowest is
43.73% with an average of 83.44%. This shows that for 83.44%
of the patterns, the ARE values are less than 5%. From these
evaluation results it may be concluded that the ANN model is
capable of simulating the flow and transport processes with a
high degree of accuracy for the illustrative study area considered
in the study.
6.5 Performance of ANN Model with Erroneous Data
For evaluating the performance of the ANN model with noisy
data, the training patterns are perturbed by adding normally
distributed random errors with standard deviation SD and mean
zero. The testing patterns used are error free. Fig. 7 shows the
performance of the ANN model in terms of Average Absolute
Relative Error (AARE) when the model is trained with noisy
data. It may be observed that the AARE values increases with the
increase in noise level. The AARE value of testing patterns is
3.024 when the training patterns are free from error (SD=0.00).
The AARE value increases to 3.629 when the training patterns
are perturbed with random error of SD=0.05 and mean zero.
Similarly, the AARE value increases up to 5.033, 5.568 and 6.667
when the training patterns are perturbed with a random error of
KSCE Journal of Civil Engineering
 Performance of an Artificial Neural Network Model for Simulating Saltwater Intrusion Process in Coastal Aquifers when Training with Noisy Data

Table 5. Performance of the ANN Model Trained with Error Free Data
TSx
Output AARE R
5% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%
1 1.59 0.998 94.92 98.98 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00
2 1.38 0.999 97.63 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00
3 1.30 0.995 97.29 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00
4 1.60 0.997 94.24 98.98 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00
5 1.47 0.998 97.29 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00
6 1.00 0.994 99.32 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00
7 3.28 0.996 83.05 95.93 97.97 99.32 100.00 100.00
8 2.96 0.995 82.37 97.29 98.64 100.00 100.00 100.00
9 1.69 0.994 96.61 99.32 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00
10 2.14 0.996 90.17 98.98 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00
11 2.39 0.994 90.51 98.31 99.66 100.00 100.00 100.00
12 1.32 0.993 98.64 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00
13 8.04 0.960 44.07 69.49 93.56 98.98 99.32 100.00
14 7.98 0.960 43.73 72.54 92.88 97.63 99.32 100.00
15 2.77 0.969 85.08 97.97 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00
16 6.06 0.969 53.90 80.00 97.29 98.98 99.66 99.66
17 5.81 0.969 53.90 86.78 98.64 99.66 100.00 100.00
18 1.57 0.982 99.32 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00
Average 3.02 0.987 83.44 94.14 98.81 99.69 99.90 99.98

Fig. 8. Performance of the ANN Model in Terms of AARE Value

with Erroneous Data
Fig. 7. Variation of R with Increase in Noise Level

SD of 0.10, 0.15, and 0.20 respectively. Though the AARE values
are increasing with the increase in random error, the AARE value
encountered are in acceptable range.
Fig. 8 shows the coefficient of correlation (R) values on the
testing patterns when the training patterns are perturbed with
different level of noises. It can be observed that the R value is not
decreasing much with the increase in noise level. The average
value of R is 0.987 when the training patterns are free from error.
The average values of R decreases to 0.941 when the training
patterns are perturbed with random error of SD = 0.20 and mean
zero. It seems that the performance of the ANN model is not
degrading much with the perturbation of noise in the training
pattern. The R values achieve are in acceptable range.
Fig. 9 shows the performance of the ANN model with noisy
data in terms of TS statistics. It can be observed that the model is
very sensitive with respect to the perturbed error for TS5 statis-
tics. The average value of TS5 is 83.45% when the ANN model
is trained with error free patterns. This indicates that 83.45% of
predicted concentration values had an ARE value less than 5%.
This implies better predicting capability of the developed ANN
model. The TS5 value decreases to 78.61% when the training
patterns are perturbed with random error of SD=0.05 and mean
zero. The TS5 value further decreases to 65.42%, 58.93%, and
50.02% when the training patterns are perturbed with random
error of SD=0.10, 0.15, 0.20 respectively and mean zero. The
ANN model is also little bit sensitive with respective to TS10 and

Vol. 13, No. 3 / May 2009 − 213 −

 Rajib Kumar Bhattacharjya, Bithin Datta, and Mysore G. Satish
Fig. 9. Performance of the ANN Model in Terms of TS Statistics
Value with Erroneous Data
TS20 values. However, the model is less sensitive for TS30, TS40
and TS50 statistics. For example the TS40 value is 99.91% when
the ANN model is train with error free patterns and 99.68%
when the ANN model is trained with the patterns perturbed with
random error of SD = 0.20 and mean zero. This indicates that the
absolute relative errors for most of the data set are less than 40%.
These evaluations of results show that the ANN is capable for
approximating the flow and transport processes in coastal aqui-
fers for the study area considered here. The predicting capability
of the ANN model does not degrade much when the model is
trained with the noisy training data.
7. Conclusions
This study presents an ANN model for approximating the
transient three-dimensional flow and transport processes in
coastal aquifers. The training and validation patterns are gener-
ated using a finite element based numerical simulation model.
The performance of the developed ANN model is evaluated for
an illustrative study area consisting of a hypothetical confined
aquifer. The performance of the ANN approximator is quite en-
couraging based on the AARE, R and TSx statistics. The per-
formance evaluations of the developed ANN model show that
this approach is potentially useful for approximate simulation of
the transient density dependent three-dimensional flow and
transport processes in coastal aquifers. The performance of the
developed ANN model is also evaluated for noisy data. In this
case, the input training patterns are perturbed with random error
of different levels. It is observed that the performance of the
model does not degrade much with perturbation of noise in the
training data. On the other hand it may be concluded that with
incorporation of field measurement errors in the training data, the
predicting capability of ANN model does not degrade much, and
therefore can be applied for simulating the flow and transport
processes in a coastal aquifer. However, more rigorous evalua-
tions using larger and more complex real world study areas are
necessary before the applicability of this approach can be fully
established.
− 214 −
References
Alley, W. M. (1986). “Regression approximation for transport model
constraint sets in combined aquifer simulation-optimization studies.”
Water Resour. Res., Vol. 22, No. 4, pp. 581-586.
Aly, A. H. and Peralta, R. C. (1999). “Optimal design of aquifer cleanup
systems under uncertainty using a neural network and genetic
algorithms.” Water Resour. Res., Vol. 35, No. 8, pp. 2523-2532.
Bear, J., Cheng, A. H. D., Sorek, S., Ouazar, D., and Herrera, I. (1999).
Seawater Intrusion in Coastal Aquifers - Concepts, Methods and
Practices, in Theory and Application of Transport in Porous Media,
Edited by J. Bear. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, p. 625.
Bhattacharjya, R. K. and Datta, B. (2005). “Optimal management of
coastal aquifers using link simulation optimization approach.” J.
Water Resources Management, Vol. 19, No. 3, pp. 295-320.
Bhattacharjya, R. K., Datta, B., and Satish, M. G. (2007). “Artificial
neural networks approximation of density dependent saltwater
intrusion process in coastal aquifers.” Journal of Hydrologic
Engineering, ASCE, Vol. 12, No. 3, pp. 273-282.
Burian S. J., Durrans, S. R., Nix, S. J., and Pitt, R. E. (2001). “Training
of artificial neural networks to perform rainfall disaggregation.” J. of
Hydrologic Engineering, ASCE, Vol. 6, No. 1, pp. 43-51.
Cheng, J. M. and Chen, C. X. (2001). “Three-dimensional modeling of
density-dependent saltwater intrusion in multilayered coastal aqui-
fers in Jahe river basin, Shandong province, China.” Ground Water,
Vol. 39, No.1, pp. 137-143.
Coulibaly, P., Anctil, F., and Bobçe, B., (2000). “Daily reservoir inflow
forecasting using artificial neural networks with stopped training
approach.” J. of Hydrology, Vol. 230, pp. 244-257.
Das, A. and Datta, B. (2000). “Optimization based solution of density
dependent seawater intrusion in coastal aquifers.” J. of Hydrologic
Engg., Vol. 5, No.1, pp. 82-89.
Ejaz, M. S. and Peralta, R. C. (1985). “Modeling for optimal manage-
ment of agricultural and domestic wastewater loading to streams.”
Water Resour. Res., Vol. 31, No. 4, pp. 1087-1096.
Hassoun, M. H. (1999). Fundamentals of Artificial Neural Networks,
Prentice Hall of India Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi, pp. 226-230.
Hsu, K., Gupta, V. H., and Sorooshian, S. (1995). “Artificial neural
network modeling of the rainfall-runoff process.” Water Resources
Research, Vol. 31, No.10, pp. 2517-2530.
Jain, A. and Kumar, A. (2006). “An evaluation of artificial neural
network technique for the determination of infiltration model para-
meters.” J. Soft Computing, Vol. 6, No. 3, pp. 272-282.
Jain, A., Srinivasulu, S., and Bhattacharjya, R. K. (2005). “Determina-
tion of an optimal unit pulse response function using real-coded
genetic algorithm.” J. Hydrology, Vol. 303, No.1-4, pp. 199-214.
Johnson, V. M. and Rogers, L. L. (2000). “Accuracy of neural network
approximations in simulation-optimization.” J. of Water Resour.
Planning and Management, ASCE, Vol. 126, No. 2, pp. 48-56.
Korre, A., Durucan, S., and Imrie, C. E. (2000). “River flow prediction
using artificial neural networks : Generalized beyond calibration
range.” J. of Hydrology, Vol. 233, pp. 138-153.
Lefkoff, L. J. and Gorelick, S. M. (1990). “Simulating physical
processes and economic behavior in saline, irrigated agriculture:
Model development.” Water Resour. Res., Vol. 26, No. 7, pp. 1359-
1369.
Lin, H. J., Rechards, D. R., Talbot, C. A., Yeh, G. T., Cheng, J. R.,
Cheng, H. P., and Jones, N. L. (1997). A three-dimensional finite
element computer model for simulating density-dependent flow and
transport in variable saturated media: Version 3.1, U.S. Army
KSCE Journal of Civil Engineering
 Performance of an Artificial Neural Network Model for Simulating Saltwater Intrusion Process in Coastal Aquifers when Training with Noisy Data
Engg. Research and Development Center. Vicksburg, M.S. 1997.
Liong, S. Y., Lim, W. H., and Paudyal, G. N. (2000). “River stage
forecasting in bangladesh : Neural network approach.” J. of Com-
puting in Civil Engineering, Vol. 4, No.1, pp. 1-8.
Morshed, J. and Kaluarachchi, J. J. (1998). “Application of artificial
neural networks and genetic algorithms in flow and transport
simulation.” Adv. in Water Resour., Vol. 22, No. 2, pp. 145-158.
Rogers, L. L. and Dowla, F. U. (1994). “Optimization of ground water
remediation using artificial neural networks and parallel solute
transport modeling.” Water Resour. Res., Vol. 30, No. 2, pp. 457-
481.
Rouve, G. and Stoessinger, W. (1980). Simulation of the transient
Vol. 13, No. 3 / May 2009
View publication stats
position of the seawater intrusion in a coastal aquifer near Madras
coast. Proceedings of the 3rd international conference finite element
water resources. University of Mississippi, Oxford, Miss. 1980.
Sherif, M. M., Singh, V. P., and Amer, A. M. (1988). “A two-
dimensional finite element model for dispersion (2D-FED) in
coastal aquifer.” J. of hydrology, Vol. 103, pp. 11-36.
Todd, D. K. (1980). Groundwater Hydrology, John Wiley & Sons.
Singapore.
Willis, R. and Finney, B. A. (1988). “Planning model for optimal control
of saltwater intrusion.” J. of Water Resour. Plng. and Mgmt., ASCE,
Vol. 114, No. 2, pp. 163-178.
− 215 −