Effect of Flow Rate of Side-Type Orifice Intake on Withdrawn Water Temperature
Side-type orifice intake is a type of selective withdrawal facility used in managing reservoirs to mitigate the negative effects of low-temperature water. Based on the temperature data of a thermal stratified reservoir in China, an experiment was conducted in flume to study the influence of intake flow rate on withdrawn water temperature with different temperature distributions. Results indicated that withdrawn water temperature changed with different flow rates. The temperature change was determined by the water temperature gradients above and below the intake, whereas the change trend of temperature depended on the difference between the water temperature gradient above and below the intake. We likewise proposed a new equation with which the withdrawn water temperature of a thermal stratified reservoir using a side-type orifice could be calculated. These findings could be directly applied to the design and operation of side-type orifice intake in thermal stratified reservoirs.
Effects of selective withdrawal on hydrodynamics and water quality of a thermally stratified reservoir in the southern side of the Mediterranean Sea: a simulation approach
This study uses a multidisciplinary approach to simulate the spatial and temporal patterns of hydrodynamics and water quality in a thermally stratified reservoir in the southern side of the Mediterranean Sea in response to water withdrawal elevation using the 2D water quality and laterally averaged hydrodynamic model CE-QUAL-W2. The withdrawal elevation controls largely the transfer of heat and constituents in the dam in particular during thermal stratification. Fifteen scenarios of withdrawal elevation are possible. To identify the most effective scenarios, a hierarchical clustering technique was performed and only four scenarios were clustered. Deep withdrawals deepen the hypoxia, increase the thickness of the metalimnion, and weaken the stratification stability, which facilitate the vertical transfer of heat and dissolved oxygen mainly. Surface withdrawals, however, shrink the metalimnion and tend to strengthen the stratification, resulting in less transfer of matter from the epilimnion to the hypolimnion. Most of the bottom sediment is overlaid by the hypolimnion. The oxygen depletes significantly and waters become anoxic at a few meters depth. For all scenarios, the reservoir experiences a summer hypolimnetic anoxia, which lasts from 42 to 80 days and seems to decrease as withdrawal elevation increases. At the end of stratification, waters below the withdrawal elevation showed a noticeable release of iron, nutrients, and suspended sediments that increases with depth and near-bottom turbulence. Attention should be drawn to shallower withdrawals because they accumulate nutrients and silts continuously in the reservoir, which may deteriorate water quality. Based on these results, a withdrawal elevation rule is presented. This rule may be adjusted to optimize water withdrawal elevation for dams in the region with similar geometry.
Stability and Mixing of a Vertical Axisymmetric Buoyant Jet in Shallow Water
The stability, mixing and effect of downstream control on axisymmetric turbulent buoyant jets discharging vertically into shallow stagnant water is studied using 3D Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes equations (RANS) combined with a buoyancy-extended k –ε model. The steady axisymmetric turbulent flow, temperature (or tracer concentration) and turbulence fields are computed using the finite volume method on a high resolution grid. The numerical predictions demonstrate two generic flow patterns for different turbulent heated jet discharges and environmental parameters (i) a stable buoyant discharge with the mixed fluid leaving the vertical jet region in a surface warm water layer; and (ii) an unstable buoyant discharge with flow recirculation and re-entrainment of heated water. A stratified counterflow region always appears in the far-field for both stable and unstable buoyant discharges. Provided that the domain radius L exceeds about 6H, the near field interaction and hence discharge stability is governed chiefly by the jet momentum length scale to depth ratio lM/H, regardless of downstream control. The near field jet stability criterion is determined to be lM/H = 3.5. A radial internal hydraulic jump always exists beyond the surface impingement region, with a 3- to 6-fold increase in dilution across the jump compared with vertical buoyant jet mixing. The predicted stability category, velocity and temperature/concentration fields are well-supported by experiments of all previous investigators.