A coupled three-dimensional hydrodynamic model for predicting hypolimnetic oxygenation and epilimnetic mixing in a shallow eutrophic reservoir

Artificial mixing and hypolimnetic oxygenation are two common methods for improving water quality in reservoirs. To examine the effects of their operation on the thermal structure of the water column, we used a three-dimensional hydrodynamic model coupled with a newly developed water-jet model and an existing linear bubble-plume model in conjunction with whole-reservoir in situ mixing experiments in a drinking-water reservoir. This reservoir has a side-stream supersaturation (SSS) hypolimnetic oxygenation system and a bubble-plume epilimnetic mixing (EM) system installed to reduce hypolimnetic hypoxia and algal blooms. The results show that the SSS successfully adds dissolved oxygen to the hypolimnion without destratifying the reservoir, whereas the EM, located at the lower metalimnetic boundary, deepens this boundary and partially mixes the metalimnion and epilimnion. The newly developed water-jet model coupled with the hydrodynamic model can successfully predict the variation of the thermal structure in the reservoir. The extent to which the SSS and EM systems affect the thermal structure of the reservoir is also quantified by further application of the coupled hydrodynamic model.

Author: Chen, S., Lei, C., Carey, C. C., Gantzer, P. A. and Little, J. C.
Keywords: Virginia Tech
Organization: Water Resources Research
Type: Featured Publication
Year: 2017
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