Analysis of Two-Dimensional Mixing in Natural Streams Based on Transient Tracer Tests
Publication: Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
Volume 142, Issue 8
Abstract
To investigate the two-dimensional dispersion characteristics of the dissolved contaminant in natural rivers, tracer experiments were performed based on the instantaneous injection of Rhodamine WT solution into small- to medium-sized rivers in Korea. The relations between the dispersion coefficients and hydraulic and geometric variables of the river were analyzed in depth. The experimental results show that transverse dispersion coefficient tends to increase as the friction term, , and the channel aspect ratio, , increase. The effect of the channel curvature on the rate of transverse mixing was found to be very distinct in that has a linear relation with , even though the slope of the fitted line in the plot of versus in a log-log scale was much smaller than the slope of the equation by Yotsukura and Sayre. The longitudinal dispersion coefficient also tends to increase as and increase. However, is rather insensitive to the channel curvature. The values of the longitudinal dispersion coefficient from field studies are much higher than the theoretical value suggested by Elder. The observed longitudinal dispersion coefficient is one order of magnitude larger than Elder’s coefficient, and of this study ranges 26.6–332.
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Acknowledgments
This research was supported by a grant (11 Technology Innovation C05) from the Construction Technology Innovation Program funded by Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and by the Water Quality Control Center of National Institute of Environmental Research (NIER) of the Korean government. This work was conducted at the Engineering Research Institute of Seoul National University in Seoul, Korea. The authors would like to express their gratitude to K. O. Baek for valuable comments on the manuscript.
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Published In
Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
Volume 142 • Issue 8 • August 2016
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© 2016 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Oct 17, 2014
Accepted: Oct 14, 2015
Published online: Apr 25, 2016
Published in print: Aug 1, 2016
Discussion open until: Sep 25, 2016
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