Experiments and numerical simulations on transport of dissolved pollutants around spur dike

Abstract

The flow field around a spur dike has three-dimensional characteristics. In order to analyze the influence of the flow field on pollutant transport, based on a compressive volume of fluid (VOF) scheme, the three-dimensional transient compressive pollutant transport model (CPTM) and the cubic equation (CE) bounded differencing scheme were developed. For the calibration and validation of CPTM, laboratory experiments were carried out in a flume with a non-submerged spur dike. The spur dike was angled at 60°, 90°, and 120° from the upstream direction. The simulation results agreed with the experimental results. The simulations and experiments showed that the distribution of pollutant concentration was determined by circumfluence and the main flow. Concentration decay in the circumfluence zone was slower than that in the main flow. Downstream of the spur dike, the concentration fluctuation became intensive with the increase of spur dike angle.