DarcyWarp: A graphics processing unit (GPU)-accelerated multigrid solver for repeated 2D fixed-transmissivity groundwater solves validated against reference solvers
- 1Lincoln Agritech Ltd, Lincoln University, Lincoln, 7640, Canterbury, New Zealand
Abstract
Repeated steady-state groundwater solves for calibration and uncertainty analysis are often limited by runtime. We present DarcyWarp, a graphics processing unit (GPU)-accelerated geometric multigrid solver for two-dimensional, steady-state, single-layer groundwater flow using a fixed-transmissivity formulation on structured grids. DarcyWarp implements an explicit cell-integrated five-point finite-difference operator and multigrid cycle as Python kernels just in time compiled for GPU execution with NVIDIA Warp, and supports areal source/sink terms, prescribed head, no-flow, and general-head boundaries. Validation against a sparse finite-difference direct solve and MODFLOW 6 on matched grids shows close head agreement, consistent residuals, and mass-balance closure. Benchmarks span matched-grid single-instance cases from 1 0 4 to 9 × 1 0 6 active cells and two 48-case repeated-solve ensembles. DarcyWarp reaches about 70 times end-to-end speedup over MODFLOW 6 in the single-instance suite and order-of-magnitude throughput gains in ensembles, enabling reproducible repeated-solve workflows on commodity GPUs.
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BibTeX
@article{durney2026darcywarp,
title = {{DarcyWarp: A graphics processing unit (GPU)-accelerated multigrid solver for repeated 2D fixed-transmissivity groundwater solves validated against reference solvers}},
author = {Patrick Durney and Jaco Fourie},
journal = {Environmental Modelling \& Software},
year = {2026},
month = jun,
doi = {10.1016/j.envsoft.2026.107081},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsoft.2026.107081},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - DarcyWarp: A graphics processing unit (GPU)-accelerated multigrid solver for repeated 2D fixed-transmissivity groundwater solves validated against reference solvers
AU - Patrick Durney
AU - Jaco Fourie
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/06/22
JO - Environmental Modelling & Software
DO - 10.1016/j.envsoft.2026.107081
UR - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsoft.2026.107081
AB - Repeated steady-state groundwater solves for calibration and uncertainty analysis are often limited by runtime. We present DarcyWarp, a graphics processing unit (GPU)-accelerated geometric multigrid solver for two-dimensional, steady-state, single-layer groundwater flow using a fixed-transmissivity formulation on structured grids. DarcyWarp implements an explicit cell-integrated five-point finite-difference operator and multigrid cycle as Python kernels just in time compiled for GPU execution with NVIDIA Warp, and supports areal source/sink terms, prescribed head, no-flow, and general-head boundaries. Validation against a sparse finite-difference direct solve and MODFLOW 6 on matched grids shows close head agreement, consistent residuals, and mass-balance closure. Benchmarks span matched-grid single-instance cases from 1 0 4 to 9 × 1 0 6 active cells and two 48-case repeated-solve ensembles. DarcyWarp reaches about 70 times end-to-end speedup over MODFLOW 6 in the single-instance suite and order-of-magnitude throughput gains in ensembles, enabling reproducible repeated-solve workflows on commodity GPUs.
SN - 1364-8152
SN - 1873-6726
ER -