Development of an Integrated Model for Simulating Two Dimensional Pollutant Transport in Rivers

Abstract

Two-dimensional dispersion model (DISP2D), based on the stream tube concept, has been developed to predict the depth averaged concentration distribution in channels under steady flow conditions. Such water quality model is not feasible for the practical engineering use for channels in case of lacking enough hydraulic data. In this paper, it is intended to couple the DISP2D model with one hydrodynamic model to make the model powerful and feasible. The proposed hydrodynamic model is based on the depth averaged longitudinal momentum equation. To solve the hydrodynamic model numerically, some assumptions have been made to take into account the effect of secondary currents. The flow model was tested using data on prismatic flumes with compound cross-sections. The integrated hydrodynamic and dispersion model was further examine by using the measured velocity and concentration data. Comparison shows that the predicted lateral flow and concentration distributions are in good agreement with the measured data. Successful applications indicate that the proposed model can be used for simulating flow and contaminant transport in open channels.