Loading MT3DMS Data

Before loading data, please check that the "cnf", "ucn" and "ftl" files are all in the same folder. If used, the pathline file should also be in the same folder.

  1. Click the File menu and select New.
  2. If changes to the previous MV document have not been saved, a dialog box is displayed that allows you to click: Yes to save changes, or No to discard changes.
  3. The Model Selection dialog box is displayed. Select MT3DMS from the drop-list box, and then click OK.
  4. The MT3DMS Data File dialog box is displayed. Specify the model configuration file ("cnf") in the first text box by clicking the corresponding Browse button and navigating to the file. (The "cnf" file is an output file generated by MT3DMS.)
  5. Specify the unformatted concentration file ("ucn") for a chemical species in the second text box by using the corresponding Browse button.
  6. Specify the flow-transport link file ("ftl") file in the third text box by using the corresponding Browse button. (The "ftl" file is generated by the LMT package of MODFLOW and serves as an input file to MT3DMS.)
  7. If pathlines have been calculated by MODPATH, the pathline file may be optionally entered into the fourth text box by using the corresponding Browse button. Otherwise, leave the text box blank.
  8. Specify the type of binary data from the drop-list box.
  9. Click OK.
  10. The Data Selection dialog box is displayed. From the drop-list boxes, select the time for the initial display. (Note that the numbers in parentheses indicate the stress period, flow time step, and transport step.) Then click OK.

After the model data are loaded, the opening display will be a bounding box viewed from overhead (from +z axis toward -z direction) at the selected time in Step 10 above.

Concentrations at the selected time are used to set the color bar as follows:

Specific discharge vectors are scaled so that, for the selected time, the length of the vector with the highest magnitude is approximately one-tenth the diagonal distance across the bounding box.