Dispersion in hydrologic and coastal environments

This report summarizes the results of a five-year laboratory research project on various flow phenomena of importance to transport and dispersion of pollutants in hydrologic and coastal environments. The results are useful in two general ways: first, to facilitate the prediction of ambient water quality from effluent characteristics in various water environments; and secondly, to provide the basis for design of systems (like outfalls) required to meet given ambient water quality requirements. The results for buoyant jets may be used for the design of waste-water outfalls in oceans, reservoirs, lakes, and large estuaries. Particular emphasis is given to line sources (or slot jets) which represent long multiple-outlet diffusers, which are necessary for all large discharges to get high dilutions. For reservoirs which are density stratified, the results include formulations for prediction of selective withdrawal, and a simulation procedure for predicting reservoir mixing by systems which pump water from one level to the other. For application to rivers and estuaries, laboratory flume experiments were made to measure transverse mixing of buoyant or heavy tracer flows, as well as for neutral-density flows. Abstracts for all publications and reports resulting from the project are given as an appendix to the report.