Feasibility of Bubble Plume Destratification of Central Lake Erie
Publication: Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
Volume 138, Issue 11
Abstract
The central basin of Lake Erie has chronic hypoxia that is exacerbated by strong seasonal temperature stratification near the lake bed. A computational study was conducted to determine the feasibility of mechanically mixing the water column by using a bubble plume system to reduce stratification, thus facilitating vertical transport of oxygen. The most efficient design delivered an air flow rate of through 40–50 non-interacting plumes, which only mix the watercolumn during the late summer hypoxic events. The optimal efficiency was computed using a new metric, which neglects changes in stratification resulting from meteorologically induced mixing, relative to those from artificial mixing.
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Acknowledgments
Temperature and oxygen data were collected by F. Boyce and R. Yerubandi (National Water Research Institute, Environment Canada). M. Pichette performed initial model setups. J. Imberger (Centre for Water Research, UWA) provided the DYRESM code. The project was funded by Queen’s University.
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Published In
Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
Volume 138 • Issue 11 • November 2012
Pages: 985 - 989
Copyright
© 2012 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jul 29, 2010
Accepted: May 11, 2012
Published online: May 14, 2012
Published in print: Nov 1, 2012
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