scholarly journals Contamination Transport in the Coastal Unconfined Aquifer under the Influences of Seawater Intrusion and Inland Freshwater Recharge—Laboratory Experiments and Numerical Simulations

Author(s):  
Qiaona Guo ◽  
Yue Zhao ◽  
Zili Hu ◽  
Mengjun Li

The coupled effect of seawater intrusion and inland freshwater recharge plays an important role in contamination transport in coastal heterogeneous aquifer. In this study, the effects of seawater intrusion and inland recharge on contamination transport were investigated by conducting laboratory experiments and numerical simulations. The laboratory tests were conducted in a sand tank considering two scenarios, namely the conditions of landward and seaward hydraulic gradients. The SEAWAT software was applied for validating the contaminant transport in coastal heterogeneous aquifer. The results indicated that the simulated seawater wedge and contours of the saltwater contaminant matched the observed ones well. The length of the seawater wedge in the scenario of seaward hydraulic gradient was smaller than that in the scenario of landward hydraulic gradient, which reflected that the large quantity of inland recharge have a negative effect on the invasion process of seawater. The plume moved mainly downward in the heterogeneous unconfined aquifer for both scenarios. The pollution plume became concave at the interface between each two layers, which was because the velocity of contaminant plume migration increased gradually from the upper layer to lower layer. The migration direction of the front of the plume was consistent with the direction of hydraulic gradient, which indicated that it was influenced by the water flowing. The maximum area of plume in the scenario of seaward hydraulic gradient was slightly smaller than that in the scenario of landward hydraulic gradient. The maximum area and vertical depth of the pollutant plume were sensitive to the hydraulic conductivity, dispersivity and contamination concentration. This study was of great significance to the controlling of pollution and utilization of freshwater resources in coastal areas.

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (23) ◽  
pp. 9838
Author(s):  
Qiaona Guo ◽  
Yahui Zhang ◽  
Zhifang Zhou ◽  
Zili Hu

This paper provided for the first time an experimental study on the influence of sea level rise on transport of contamination in the heterogeneous unconfined aquifer of the coastal zone. The experiments were conducted using the tank, considering the difference between sea level and inland head 1 cm for Case 1 and 2 cm for Case 2. Observed data were validated using the numerical model, which matched well with the toe length of seawater wedge and the shape of the contaminant plume. The results showed that the observed and simulated values of Cl− concentration at the sampling points increased sharply at the initial time, and then they increased slowly and tended to be stable. The seawater wedge migrated inland with time under the effects of the hydraulic gradient toward the inland and the density difference between saltwater and freshwater. The steady state length of the 50% isoline of the seawater wedge was 167 cm in Case 2, which was larger than that of Case 1. The maximum area of plume in Case 2 was 0.13 m2, larger than that in Case 1, which indicated that the velocity of diffusion of the contaminant plume increased as the sea level increased. As the velocity of diffusion increased, the time for pollutant migration to the intersection between seawater and freshwater became shorter. The maximum area and vertical depth of pollutant plume were sensitive to the hydraulic conductivity, dispersivity, and contamination concentration. The infiltration depth and range of the contaminant plume in the heterogeneous aquifer were greater than those in the homogeneous aquifer of the actual beach.


Fluids ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (11) ◽  
pp. 380
Author(s):  
Noé Lahaye ◽  
Alexandre Paci ◽  
Stefan G. Llewellyn Smith

The instability of surface lenticular vortices is investigated using a comprehensive suite of laboratory experiments combined with numerical linear stability analysis as well as nonlinear numerical simulations in a two-layer Rotating Shallow Water model. The development of instabilities is discussed and compared between the different methods. The linear stability analysis allows for a clear description of the origin of the instability observed in both the laboratory experiments and numerical simulations. While global qualitative agreement is found, some discrepancies are observed and discussed. Our study highlights that the sensitivity of the instability outcome is related to the initial condition and the lower-layer flow. The inhibition or even suppression of some unstable modes may be explained in terms of the lower-layer potential vorticity profile.


1994 ◽  
Vol 264 ◽  
pp. 81-106 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Verron ◽  
S. Valcke

The influence of stratification on the merging of like-sign vortices of equal intensity and shape is investigated by numerical simulations in a quasi-geostrophic, two-layer stratified model. Two different types of vortices are considered: vortices defined as circular patches of uniform potential vorticity in the upper layer but no PV anomaly in the lower layer (referred to as PVI vortices), and vortices defined as circular patches of uniform relative vorticity in the upper layer but no motion in the lower layer (referred to as RVI vortices). In particular, it is found that, in the RVI case, the merging behaviour depends strongly on the magnitude of the stratification (i.e. the ratio of internal Rossby radius and vortex radius). The critical point here appears to be whether or not the initial eddies have a deep flow signature in terms of PV.The specific phenomenon of scale-dependent merging observed is interpreted in terms of the competitive effects of hetonic interaction and vortex shape. In the case of weaker stratification, the baroclinic structure of the eddies can be seen as dominated by a mechanism of hetonic interaction in which bottom flow appears to counteract the tendency of surface eddies to merge. In the case of larger stratification, the eddy interaction mechanism is shown to be barotropically dominated, although interface deformation still determines the actual eddy vorticity profile during the initialization stage. Repulsion (hetonic) effect therefore oppose attraction (barotropic shape) effects in a competitive process dependent on the relationship between the original eddy lengthscale and the first internal Rossby radius.A concluding discussion considers the implications of such analysis for real situations, in the ocean or in the laboratory.


1998 ◽  
Vol 363 ◽  
pp. 229-252 ◽  
Author(s):  
GREGORY F. LANE-SERFF ◽  
PETER G. BAINES

Properties of the flow generated by a continuous source of dense fluid on a slope in a rotating system are investigated with a variety of laboratory experiments. The dense fluid may initially flow down the slope but it turns (under the influence of rotation) to flow along the slope, and initial geostrophic adjustment gives it an anticyclonic velocity profile. Some of the dense fluid drains downslope in a viscous Ekman layer, which may become unstable to growing waves. Provided that the viscous draining is not too strong, cyclonic vortices form periodically in the upper layer and the dense flow breaks up into a series of domes. Three processes may contribute to the formation of these eddies. First, initial downslope flow of the dense current may stretch columns of ambient fluid by the ‘Taylor column’ process (which we term ‘capture’). Secondly, the initial geostrophic adjustment implies lower-layer collapse which may stretch the fluid column, and thirdly, viscous drainage will progressively stretch and spin up a captured water column. Overall this last process may be the most significant, but viscous drainage has contradictory effects, in that it progressively removes dense lower-layer fluid which terminates the process when the layer thickness approaches that of the Ekman layer. The eddies produced propagate along the slope owing to the combined effects of buoyancy–Coriolis balance and ‘beta-gyres’. This removes fluid from the vicinity of the source and causes the cycle to repeat. The vorticity of the upper-layer cyclones increases linearly with Γ=Lα/D (where L is the Rossby deformation radius, α the bottom slope and D the total depth), reaching approximately 2f in the experiments presented here. The frequency at which the eddy/dome structures are produced also increases with Γ, while the speed at which the structures propagate along the slope is reduced by viscous effects. The flow of dense fluid on slopes is a very important part of the global ocean circulation system and the implications of the laboratory experiments for oceanographic flows are discussed.


Author(s):  
Greg W. Gmurczyk ◽  
Ashwani K. Gupta

Abstract Constant and significant progress in both computer hardware and numerical algorithms, in recent years, have made it possible to investigate complex phenomena in engineering systems using computer modeling and simulations. Advanced numerical simulations can be treated as an extension of traditional analytical-theoretical analyses. In such cases, some of the simplifying assumptions can usually be dropped and the nonlinear interactions between various processes can be captured. One of the most complex engineering processes encountered in industry is a combustion process utilized either for power/thrust generation or incineration. However, even nowadays, because of the high level of complexity of the general problem of a combustion process in practical systems, it is not currently possible to simulate directly all the length and time scales of interest. Simplifying assumptions still need to be made, but they can be less drastic than in analytical approaches. Therefore, another view of numerical simulations is as a tool to simulate idealized systems and conduct numerical experiments. Such numerical experiments can be complementary to laboratory experiments and can also provide more detailed, nonintrusive diagnostics. Therefore, simulations, along with theory and laboratory experiments, can provide a more complete picture and better understanding of a combustion process. As an example of computer modeling of industrial combustion systems, an enclosed spray flame was considered. Such a flame can frequently be encountered in power generation units, turbine engines, and incinerators. Both the physical and mathematical models were formulated based on data from earlier laboratory studies and results obtained for open air spray flames. The purpose of this study was to use those data as model input to predict the characteristics of a confined flame and provide a means of optimizing the system design with a PC computer.


2020 ◽  
Vol 84 (4) ◽  
pp. 1565-1587
Author(s):  
S. Slimani ◽  
I. Medarhri ◽  
K. Najib ◽  
A. Zine

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document