Reaeration in Supercritical Open Channel Flows: An Experimental Study
Publication: Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
Volume 148, Issue 10
Abstract
Reaeration is a primary path of reoxygenation in streams, fundamental to environmental and ecological integrity. Previous laboratory studies of reaeration rates in subcritical flows showed large scatter in results, with differences in mass transfer coefficients of more than one order of magnitude between comparable flow conditions. Although supercritical flow is commonly observed in natural streams and engineered channels, systematic measurements of supercritical flow reaeration rates have been unavailable. Experiments in a laboratory open channel flume encompassing sub- and supercritical flows have been undertaken. The subcritical data were consistent with a large body of previous studies. Supercritical flows showed 6–10 times stronger reaeration rates than comparable subcritical conditions, while local rates at hydraulic jumps systematically exceed those in the supercritical flows upstream by a factor up to three. A close relationship between reaeration rates and turbulent dissipation rate is observed, and a systematic Froude number dependency is demonstrated for both sub- and supercritical flows. Observed mass transfer coefficients do not correlate as well with flow Reynolds number and shear Reynolds number. The higher reaeration rates associated with supercritical flows indicates that a change in open channel flow regime for the same Reynolds number may be used to improve water quality.
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Data Availability Statement
All data, models, or code that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Acknowledgments
The authors thank Larry Paice and William Terry for their technical assistance. They thank Elliot Cicero for his help with the initial experiments. W. Zhao was supported by the State Scholarship Fund by China Scholarship Council (CSC) (No. 201806240095) and thanks UNSW Sydney for hosting his research stay.
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Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
Volume 148 • Issue 10 • October 2022
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© 2022 American Society of Civil Engineers.
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Received: Jun 8, 2021
Accepted: Apr 29, 2022
Published online: Jul 19, 2022
Published in print: Oct 1, 2022
Discussion open until: Dec 19, 2022
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