Lateral Spreading of Heated Discharge

Abstract

A study was performed to examine the effect of density variation on the dispersion of effluent released into a fluid field. Using existing U.S. Atomic Energy Commission facilities at Hanford, WA, releases were made under load (heated) and no load (nonheated) conditions. Results obtained from in situ measurements indicate a substantial difference in the effective diffusion coefficient for the heated and nonheated conditions. It is proposed that an explanation of the difference observed follows from the mutual intrusion of two heterogeneous fluids.