A variational solution for the aquifer transmissivity problem

For the differential equation V . (p(x)del u) = 0, x is an element of R(2), the problem of computing the coefficient function p from a knowledge of the solution function u is of interest in connection with the modelling of underground aquifer systems, wherein u represents the piezometric head values and p the 'transmissivity'. We present a new method, based on iteration and minimization, for the robust computation of p in the presence of noisy data for u.