Integrated modeling of single port brine discharges into unstratified stagnant ambient

Abstract

An integrated model is presented for the calculation of the characteristics in the intermediate field region of brine discharges from reverse osmosis desalination plants into unstratified stagnant coastal waters. The model consists of the near field model Modified CorJet Model and the far field model, which are interconnected via a coupling algorithm. This algorithm has been developed to simulate the flow and concentration characteristics of negatively buoyant jets (NBJ) after their impingement on the bottom. The coupling method was developed to be active according to literature, however further work and investigation is needed to be applicable for NBJ discharged into other ambient environments and especially in cases where the background values of ambient flow and concentrations affect the NF values and vice versa. The integrated model was validated with data from the literature as well as with data from experiments conducted in this study showing a good agreement. The coupling algorithm was also compared to other coupling techniques used in the literature for NBJ discharges showing better estimations of the experimental data.