Repeatability in Estuarine Hydraulic Model

Experiments were conducted using the James River Hydraulic Model to determine that model's ability to reach a steady state in two tests run under identical conditions. Salinity was sampled periodically at a number of stations and the samples analyzed using an inductance salinometer. It is found that the standard deviation of the salinity at a particular station exceeds the limit of accuracy of the instrument. It is suggested that tide generator aberration is primarily responsible for the observed fluctuations. The two tests run under identical conditions are examined statistically to determine the significance between the observed values of salinity in the two tests. The differences were found to be significant at the 5% level for 10 out of 26 stations. It is found that the freshwater inflow is relatively cool, resulting in a salinity inversion in the upstream reaches of the model.