O escoamento estratificado óleo-água é bastante comum na indústria do petróleo, especialmente em poços direcionas offshore, oleodutos e gasodutos. Entretanto, existem poucos trabalhos na literatura sobre a natureza da estrutura ondulatória observada no escoamento em dutos ascendentes ou descendentes a partir da horizontal. O objetivo deste trabalho foi estudar as propriedades geométricas e cinemáticas da onda interfacial, i.e, forma média, comprimento, amplitude e celeridade, e assim contribuir para a compreensão do papel da onda interfacial na dinâmica do escoamento estratificado. Um software baseado em plataforma Labview® possibilitou a automação para obtenção dos dados das ondas interfaciais extraídas de imagens de vídeos de alta resolução. Além das propriedades das ondas, também se coletaram valores de fração volumétrica in situ e de gradiente de pressão bifásico para cinco ângulos de inclinação (-20°, -10°, 0°, 10° e 20°) em diferentes pares de vazões de óleo e água. Desenvolveu-se um modelo fenomenológico considerando os termos ondulatórios do escoamento para o cálculo da fração volumétrica in situ e do gradiente de pressão bifásico, sendo comparado com modelos disponíveis na literatura e dados experimentais. A concordância do modelo proposto com os dados coletados neste trabalho se mostrou muito boa, o que sugere um avanço em comparação ao existente na literatura. O estudo da equação da onda de perturbação interfacial para o escoamento estratificado óleo-água indicou que a natureza da onda observada é cinemática e não dinâmica; e baseado na equação da celeridade da onda cinemática pode-se confrontar a celeridade experimental com a teórica, revelando boa concordância. / The oil-water stratified flow is quite common in the oil industry, especially in offshore directional wells and pipelines. However, there are few studies on the physics of the wavy structure observed in upward and downward stratified flow. The goal of this work was to study the geometric and kinematic properties of interfacial waves, i.e., the average shape, wavelength, amplitude and celerity. A homemade Labview®-based software enabled the automatic acquisition of data extracted from frames obtained via high resolution video recording. In situ volume fraction and two-phase pressure gradient data for five inclination angles (-20°, -10°, 0°, 10° and 20°) at several pairs of oil and water flow rates were also collected. A phenomenological model that takes into account the wavy structure is proposed to calculate volume fractions and two-phase pressure gradient and it was compared with available models from the literature and experimental data. The good agreement of the proposed model with the data collected in this study is promising and suggests that it may provide better predictions in comparison with models from the literature. The study of the interfacial perturbation wave equation for stratified flow indicates that the observed waves nature is kinematic and not dynamic; and based on the kinematic wave velocity equation we could compare the experimental celerity with the theoretical one, with good agreement.

Im Rahmen eines vierjährigen Feldversuches wurden der Einfluss von Bodenbearbeitung, Bodenbedeckung und Stickstoffdüngung auf die N-Dynamik und N-Verlagerung während der Winterhalbjahre und deren Nachwirkungen auf die Hauptfrucht der nachfolgenden Vegetationsperiode untersucht. Es zeigte sich, dass sich neben den Prüffaktoren auch Unterschiede der Vorfrucht und des Witterungsverlaufes auf die Höhe der Nitratauswaschung über Winter auswirkten. Generell führte der Anbau von Winterrübsen gegenüber der Brache erwartungsgemäß zu einer Reduzierung des N-Austrages, was sowohl auf die geringeren Sickerwassermengen als auch auf die geringeren Nitratkonzentrationen in der Bodenlösung zurückzuführen war. Die N-Konservierung der Winterrübsen wirkte sich auf die folgende Hauptfrucht positiv hinsichtlich der Stickstoffverfügbarkeit im Oberboden und der N-Aufnahme des Sommerweizens während dessen Standzeit aus. Der Schwerpunkt in der methodischen Vorgehensweise dieser Arbeit lag in der Erfassung der Sickerwassermengen zur Abschätzung der N-Verlagerung anhand der Daten der Nitratkonzentration in der Bodenlösung. Die Durchflussmengen im Boden wurden ausgehend von der klimatischen Wasserbilanz und unter Berücksichtigung der Veränderungen der Bodenwasservorräte bestimmt, die anhand von Messungen der Matrixpotentiale und der Kenntnis der Bodenwassercharakteristika im Profilverlauf des Bodens berechnet wurden. Dieser Ansatz wurde drei weiteren Ansätzen gegenübergestellt. Diese sind die klimatische Wasserbilanz, die klimatische Wasserbilanz unter Berücksichtigung der Veränderungen der Bodenwasservorräte anhand der volumetrischen Wassergehaltsmessung mit Hilfe der TDR-Messtechnik und die Bestimmung der Perkolation mittels Wasserleitfähigkeitsfunktionen und Potentialgradienten. Mögliche Fehlerquellen der verschiedenen Ansätze wurden diskutiert und Schlussfolgerungen für die praktische Versuchsdurchführung gezogen. / The influence of different tillage managements, soil covering and different nitrogen applications on the N-dynamic and N-leaching during winter and their effects during the following vegetation period have been investigated within the scope of a field trial of several years. Beside these treatments, differences of the preceding crop type and climatic conditions showed also effects on the amount of nitrate leaching during winter. The cultivation of winter rape compared to fallow reduced the N-leaching in accordance with the expectations; generally this was the result of lower rates of water flow as well as lower nitrate concentrations in the soil solution. During the successive vegetation periods the N-conservation by the catch crop led to higher nitrate contents in the soil, particularly in the upper layer, and to an increasing N-uptake of the fallowing spring wheat. Focal point of the methodical proceeding of this study was the recording of the downward water movement to estimate the N-leaching in combination with the nitrate concentration in the soil solution. The calculation of the water movement in the soil based on the climatic water balance in consideration of the variation of the soil water content; the changes in the soil water were determined by data of the soil matrix potential and the knowledge of the moisture characteristics of the horizons, their positions and their wideness. This approach was based to present the results, and was then compared with three other ones. These were the climatic water balance, the climatic water balance in consideration of the variation of the soil water content by data of the changes of the volumetric soil water content measured by ‘time domain reflectrometry’ and the calculation of water flow with hydraulic conductivity functions and data of the hydraulic potentials. Possible sources of error of the methods are discussed to draw conclusions for conducting field trials.

Embora o escoamento estratificado óleo-água seja comum na indústria do petróleo, existem poucos trabalhos na literatura sobre a estrutura ondulatória encontrada no escoamento em dutos ascendentes ou descendentes. O objetivo deste trabalho é entender e caracterizar as estruturas interfaciais ondulatórias em escoamentos estratificados óleo e água em dutos levemente inclinados e comparar com os resultados retirados da modelagem proposta. Uma primeira tentativa de modelar a onda interfacial óleo-água através da equação da energia bifásica unidimensional para regime permanente é apresentada e comparada aos resultados obtidos experimentalmente. Valores de comprimento de onda foram coletados para quatro ângulos de inclinação a partir da horizontal (-5º, -2º, 2º e 5º) e diversos pares de vazão de óleo e água. Os dados foram extraídos de frames de vídeos de alta resolução através de uma técnica manual. Um software baseado em LabView foi desenvolvido para possibilitar a automação da obtenção do comprimento de onda e amplitude. Os comprimentos de onda obtidos com a técnica automática foram comparados com os dados obtidos através da técnica manual. O mensuramento é bem satisfatório e sugere que a ferramenta experimental proposta possa ser aplicada para o estudo de qualquer padrão de escoamento óleo-água, onde uma estrutura ondulatória possa ser identificada. A validade da modelagem da onda interfacial proposta foi avaliada através da comparação entre os resultados teóricos e dados experimentais. A concordância observada é encorajadora. / Even though the oil-water stratified flow pattern has a common occurrence in the upstream oil industry, quite often in directional wells, there are only a few works in the literature dealing with its interfacial wavy structure. This work has the mean goal of comprehending a characterizing the interfacial wave structure in inclined water-oil stratified pipe flow, comparing it with the proposed model. A model, based on the steady-state one-dimensional two-phase flow energy equation is presented and compared to our experimental data. Wave lengths and amplitude data were collected at four inclinations from the horizontal (-5º, -2º, 2º and 5º) and several oil and water flow rates. The data were extracted form high-resolution video images through a manual technique. A LabView based software was developed in order to obtain the lengths and amplitude automatically. Wave length obtained from it were compared to the manual technique data. The satisfactory measurement suggests the applicability of the experimental tool to any water-oil pipe flow pattern, where a wave structure can be identified. The validity by the comparison between theoretical and experimental data. The agreement observed is promising.

Orientador: Roberto Fioravanti Carelli Fontes / Resumo: Estuários são ambientes aquáticos de transição entre o continente e o oceano com características únicas, ecológica e economicamente importantes. São condicionados por diversas forçantes naturais e compartilham contribuições terrestres e marinhas. Os principais métodos para estudo hidrodinâmico desses ambientes baseiam-se na análise dos processos de advecção e de mistura das massas de água, gerados pela dinâmica das marés e das descargas dos rios. O presente estudo visa a caracterização hidrodinâmica do estuário do rio Guaratuba (Bertioga, SP) durante as marés de sizígia e de quadratura, a partir de levantamentos hidrográficos realizados com ADCP e CTD e o desenvolvimento de um modelo hidrodinâmico computacional capaz de explicar e simular os processos oceanográficos deste estuário. Os resultados apontaram que, tanto a maré quanto a descarga fluvial têm a capacidade de alterar as vazões e os padrões de salinidade e temperatura no estuário. Em condições de precipitação médias ou na ausência de precipitações, a maré é a forçante dominante do sistema. Durante os períodos de sizígia ocorrem o aumento da turbulência e da mistura vertical. Nas quadraturas, quando as velocidades de corrente são menores, a estratificação vertical é mais estável, e a água salina incursiona até pontos mais internos do estuário. Precipitações na sub-bacia tem relação direta e imediata com o aumento da vazão, afetando a dinâmica e intensificando a estratificação vertical do estuário. O estuário do rio Gua... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: Estuaries are transitional aquatic environments, with unique characteristics, ecologically and economically important. They are conditioned by several natural forcings and share land and marine contributions. The main methods to study these environments are based on the analysis of the water masses advection and mixing processes, that are generated by tides and river discharges. The purposes of this study are the hydrodynamic characterization of the Guaratuba’s estuary (Bertioga, SP) during spring and neap tides, based on ADCP and CTD hydrographic surveys, and the development of a computational hydrodynamic model using Delft-3D software, that helps to explain and simulate the main estuarine oceanographic processes. We observed that both, tide and river discharges, have the capacity to alter water flow, as well as salinity and temperature patterns in the estuary. Under mean precipitation conditions or in its absence, tide forces dominate the system. During the spring tide floods, turbulence and vertical mixing increase. During the neap tide floods, when current speed decreases, vertical stratification remains more stable, and saline water penetrates more along the upper estuary. Precipitation episodes in the sub-basin are direct and immediate related to water flow increase, and affect currents dynamics intensifying vertical stratification in the estuary. The Guaratuba estuary is classified as type A, B or D; depending on tidal and river flow conditions. The models we generated... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Mestre

The rapid depletion of hydrocarbon fields around the world has led the industry to search for these resources in ever increasing water depths. In this context, the large diameter (D > 100mm) vertical riser has become a subject of great interest. In this research work, a major investigation was undertaken to determine the two phase flow hydrodynamics in a 254mm vertical riser. Two types of experiments were performed for range of air-water superficial velocities. The first experimental campaign addresses the issue of the two gas injector’s performances (conventional vs. novel design gas injector) in the large diameter vertical riser. The experimental results show that the novel design gas injector should be the preferential choice. The second set of the experimental work investigates the two phase flow hydrodynamics in the vertical riser in detail. The two phase flow patterns and their transitions were identified by combination of visual observations and statistical features. Based on the results, the experimental flow regime map was developed and compared with the existing vertical upflow regime maps/models. None of the flow regime transition models adequately predicted the flow regimes transitions in large diameter vertical risers as a whole. In this regard, the Taitel et al. (1980) bubble to slug flow transition model has been modified for large diameter vertical upflow conditions, based on the physical mechanism observed. The general trends of modified criteria agreed well with the current and other large diameter experimental results. The effect of upstream conditions on the vertical riser flow behaviour was also investigated in detail by two different inlet configurations (i) near riser base injection and (ii) upstream flowline injection. It was found that no significant differences exist in flow behaviour at low air-water superficial velocities for both the inlet configuration, at high air-water superficial velocities, the intermittent flow behavior in flowline influences the riser flow pattern characteristics and thereby controls the riser dynamics. It is found that liquid slugs from the flowline naturally dissipate to some extent in the riser as a consequence of compression of succeeding bubble that rapidly expands and break through the liquid slug preceding it when it enters the riser. The experimental work corroborates the general consensus that slug flow does not exist in large diameter vertical upflow condition. Experimental data has been further compared to increase the confidence on the existing two phase flow knowledge on large diameter vertical riser: (a) by comparing with other experimental studies on large diameter vertical upflow in which generally, a good agreement was found, (b) by assessing the predictive capability of void fraction correlations/pressure gradient methods. The important implication of this assessment is that the mechanistic approach based on specific flow regime in determining the void fraction and pressure gradient is more successful than conventional empirical based approaches. The assessment also proposes a proposed set a of flow regime specific correlations that recommends void fraction correlations based on their performances in the individual flow regimes. Finally, a numerical model to study the hydrodynamic behaviour in the large diameter horizontal flowline-vertical riser system is developed using multiphase flow simulator OLGA. The simulated results show satisfactory agreement for the stable flows while discrepancies were noted for highly intermittent flows. The real time boundary application was partially successful in qualitatively reproducing the trends. The discrepancies between the predicted results and experimental data are likely to be related to the incorrect closure relations used based on incorrect flow regimes predictions. The existence of the multiple roots in the OLGA code is also reported for the first time.

The euthropthication of the Baltic Sea is a threat that is beginning to be taken seriously by the governments concerned. In Sweden, regulations concerning the allowed nitrogen (N) concentration in the effluent water from wastewater treatment plants are being tightened up. The Rimbo wastewater treatment plant has been imposed to reduce the annual mean concentration of total N in the effluent water to levels below 15 mg l-1. A more and more common way to reduce the nitrogen level in wastewater is to let the water pass through a wetland. This study investigates the possibility to build this kind of wetland at the outlet of the Rimbo wastewater treatment plant. A prestudy of the topography, soil characteristics and groundwater flow indicates that the land area in question is well suited for the construction of a wetland. A proposal for the design has been made by using a physically based computer model developed in the PRIMROSE project (PRocess based Integrated Management of constructed and Riverine wetlands for Optimal control of wastewater at catchment ScalE), which is financed by the EU. Analysis of the residence time distribution (RTD) is a tool for understanding wetland design characteristics and can be used for wetland engineering such as optimizing design for best possibleefficiency in nitrogen removal. In order to characterize the performance of a wetland, it is useful to translate the RTD to a key figure representing the treatment efficiency. In this work, two types of such key figures have been used. Key figure 1 gives the hydraulic efficiency and Key figure 2 gives an estimation of the nitrogen retention by an integration of hydraulic characteristics and the chemical transformation of nitrogen. The results of this study show that constructing a wetland in Rimbo probably would be an efficient way to reduce the nitrogen level at the effluent of the wastewater plant below the limits of the regulations. In addition, a wetland would form a nice place of recreation for the people in Rimbo and also make a good habitat for birds. / Övergödningen i Östersjön är ett problem som uppmärksammas alltmer. Ett led i att minska kvävebelastningen på Östersjön är ökade krav på rening i de svenska kommunala reningsverken. Rimbo avloppsreningsanläggning har blivit ålagd ett riktvärde för totalkväve på 15 mg l-1 i utgående vatten, vilket motsvarar en reningsgrad som inte uppnås idag. Ett alltmer vanligt sätt att minska föroreningshalterna är att anlägga våtmarker i anslutning till reningsverken för att efterpolera spillvattnet. Det här arbetet är en del av en förstudie till en sådan våtmark i Rimbo. En förundersökning av topografi, jordart och grundvattenflöden indikerar att det område som föreslagits i anslutning till reningsverket i Rimbo lämpar sig väl för ett våtmarksbygge. Förslag till utformning har tagits fram med hjälp av en fysikaliskt baserad modell över vattenströmning, utvecklad inom det EU-finansierade projektet PRIMROSE (PRocess based Integrated Management of constructed and Riverine wetlands for Optimal control of wastewater at catchment ScalE). Analys av vattnets uppehållstidsfördelning ger förståelse för våtmarkens egenskaper och kan därför användas vid t ex optimering av våtmarksdesign med avseende på kväverening. För att på ett enkelt sätt kunna jämföra olika våtmarkers effektivitet är det praktiskt att översätta uppehållstidsfördelningen till ett nyckeltal för reningseffekten. I det här arbetet har två olika sådana nyckeltal beräknats. Det första ger den hydrauliska effektiviteten och det andra bygger på en metod där våtmarkens interna hydraulik integreras med den kemiska omvandlingen av kväve. Nyckeltal 1 ger ett mått på hur stor del av volymen i våtmarken som används för kväverening, medan Nyckeltal 2 ger ett mått på den procentuella kväveavskiljningen. Den här förstudien visar att en våtmark sannolikt skulle vara ett utmärkt sätt att klara riktvärdet för kvävehalten vid reningsverket i Rimbo. Därutöver skulle en våtmark kunna utgöra ett positivt inslag i landskapet och öka den biologiska mångfalden, inte minst vad gäller fågelliv.

The prediction of moisture and contaminant transport through unsaturated soil to ground water is becoming increasingly important in the fields of hydrology, agriculture and environmental engineering. Computer aided simulation techniques enables one to conduct a series of systematic numerical experiments to analyze flow phenomenon in subsurface hydrology under various physical and chemical processes. The flow movement depends upon medium characteristics, initial and boundary conditions, which reflect, physical processes occurring below the ground. To understand the effects of physical process an efficient and accurate model is needed. Thus the model developed must be able to handle varied initial and boundary conditions. In this regard, infiltration into a very dry soil becomes a very important problem of study. Most of the earlier numerical models developed are concentrated on the development of an efficient algorithm or the modelling of a particular process which govern the flow in unsaturated or saturated-unsaturated homogeneous medium. Not much work has been done on the analysis of variably saturated flow in layered soil medium. Models to simulate unsaturated flow through dry soils, especially through layered soils with varied boundary conditions are very limited. Further, not much studies have been reported in the literature on the prediction of seepage face development and the phreatic surface movement in variably saturated media with layering. These aspects are very important in determining the flow field and the discharge from the domain. A detailed literature review covering above aspects has been made and is reported in this thesis. In the present work, two dimensional numerical models to predict the movement of wetting front in unsaturated domain and the movement of the phreatic surface in homogeneous and layered porous media under various initial and boundary conditions are developed based on finite difference and finite volume techniques. These models can handle flow in both rectangular flow domains and radial flow domains. The initial condition settings include the handling of very dry soil medium without any transformation of the governing equation, handling of infiltration and constant head conditions at the boundaries under steady state as well as transient scenarios. The models are also able to handle various soil moisture characteristics which depict the nonlinear behaviour between hydraulic conductivity, moisture content and pressure head in a soil media. A mixed form of the governing partial differential equation is used in the present study as it leads to better mass conservation. The finite difference model uses a central difference approximation for the space derivatives and an Eulerian backward difference approximation for the time derivative. The fully implicit formulation is solved iteratively using Strongly Implicit Procedure after making Picard approximation for the highly nonlinear coefficients. The process of infiltration into an initially dry soil leads to the development of a steep wetting front. As the finite volume technique is naturally an upwind method, it is expected to play a positive role in modelling such processes accurately. Hence, a finite volume model is also developed by approximating the convective part using a MUSCL approach and a fully implicit central difference method for the diffusive part of the governing equation. The models developed are validated using both experimental data and numerical solutions for problems reported in the literature. The validation problems cover a wide range of physical scenarios such as: infiltration into a very dry soil, infiltration into a dry soil column with gravity drainage, development of water table mound, steady state drainage in a sand filled wedge shaped tank with seepage face development and transient seepage face development in a rectangular domain. Five test problems are used for the validation of the models. The developed models perform very well for the test problems considered, indicating the models' capability in handling such situations. The results obtained by using the present models for simulating flow through highly unsaturated (very dry) soils show that the models perform very well when compared with models which use transformation techniques to handle such problems. The performance of the present models in comparison with the experimental data and numerical models available in the literature show the suitability of the present models in handling such situations. The present models are also used to analyse various types of unsaturated flow problems with varying initial and boundary conditions. The boundary conditions considered are no flow and /or free flow conditions along the left, right and bottom boundaries with infiltration condition along a part of the top boundary. For the various cases considered in the present study, infiltration rate varies from 5 cm/day to 50cm/day through an initially very dry soil of -15000 cm pressure head in homogeneous and layered soils. Different types of soil media considered vary from sandy loam, loam and clay with horizontal and vertical layering of these soils. A total number of 14 cases are analysed. The results are discussed in terms of pressure head variation in the flow domain along with moisture redistribution for all the cases under consideration. It is observed from these studies that the infiltration rate play an important role on the wetting front movement through layered soils depending on the type of layering and the boundary conditions considered. The soil properties of various layers affect the movement of wetting front by changing the direction of movement. Even though the wetting front movement is predominantly vertical, there is a tendency for the wetting front to move in the horizontal direction as it moves from a coarse soil to fine soil. It is also observed that the vertical layering of soils with different hydraulic conductivity helps in redirecting the flow towards the bottom boundary through the neighboring coarser layers. As finite volume method is more suitable for simulating sharp fronts, it is expected to perform better than finite difference method for simulating infiltration into very dry soils. So, a comparison is made between the performance of these two models by using the above test problems. It is observed from these studies that the performance of both the models are same except that the finite volume method takes much more CPU time than the finite difference model. Considering the type of problems tested, it is observed that for modelling unsaturated and saturated-unsaturated flows, finite difference method is better in comparison to finite volume method. It may be due to the predominant diffusive characteristics of the governing equation even while modelling flow through very dry soils. Proper estimation of the seepage height is an important aspect in finding the discharge through the porous medium. It is observed from the literature that the use of a saturated flow model in such situations can lead to an underestimation of the discharge through the porous medium. This effect is more important when dealing with small dimension problems. It is also observed that various parameters which govern the moisture movement through saturated-unsaturated regions affect proper estimation of the seepage face height and there by discharge. Various factors like effect of boundary conditions, type of soil layering, problem dimension and aspect ratio on seepage face development and the associated phreatic surface formation is studied in the present work. It is seen from the present study that the seepage face development is more in rectangular flow domain than in radial flow domain for both homogeneous and layered soils. It is also seen that the seepage face development in rectangular problems are more sensitive than radial flow problems for various factors considered. The seepage height is also influenced by the tail water level. It is seen from the present study that as the tail water level increases the seepage face reduces with no seepage face development for some of the cases studied. This influence is relatively less for radial flow problems. As the length of the domain increases the seepage height decreases. It is seen that for different cases with same horizontal dimension, as the height of the domain increases the seepage face height also increases. This phenomenon is observed for both homogeneous and layered soil medium. The influence of the aspect ratio, which is the ratio of the length to height of the domain indicate that as the aspect ratio increases the seepage height decreases. The type of the soil layering is observed to have a very strong influence on the seepage face development. The study for understanding the effect of soil layering on the development of seepage face and phreatic surface suggest that as the coarseness of the material increases, the phreatic surface become flatter and its steepness increases with the fineness of the soil. The present model is also used for studying the transient phreatic surface movement and the seepage face development. This is studied for homogeneous and layered rectangular soil medium. The present study is used to understand the effect of specific storage on the phreatic surface movement and the seepage face development. The studies indicate that the influence of specific storage on the seepage face development is insignificant in homogeneous soils with only very little effect in the early time for longer domains. It is also observed that the influence of the specific storage is significant in the case of layered soils. This effect depends on the type of layering and the problem dimension and is observed to have influence for relatively longer period. This observation suggests the importance of specific storage on transient seepage face development. When the specific storage effect is considered the drainage of the soil become faster resulting in a faster decline of the phreatic surface with time. The influence of specific storage is also studied considering the problem dimension effect. It is seen that as the aspect ratio increases, the effect of specific storage on the phreatic surface development decreases. The studies with change in the upstream boundary condition from a constant head to a no flow condition indicate that the effect of specific storage has no significant influence on the phreatic surface development for both homogeneous and layered soils.

<p>Treatment wetlands play an important role in reducing nitrogen content in wastewater and agricultural run-off water. The main removal process is denitrification and the removal efficiency depends on the hydrological and microbiological features of the wetland, especially in terms of water residence times and denitrification rates. The aim of this thesis was to increase the understanding of the coupled hydrological and microbiological processes regulating the denitrification capacity. This was done by applying a broad spectrum of analyses methods, including tracer experiment, water flow modeling, denitrification rate measurements, and analyses of the microbial community structures. The tracer experiment and flow modeling revealed that the wetland design, especially the vegetation, largely can affect the water residence time distributions in wetlands. In the investigated wetland, vegetation dominated the water flow, explaining 60-80% of the variance in water residence times, whereas basin shape only explained about 10% of the variance, but also mixing phenomena significantly affected the residence times and could considerably delay solutes. Measured potential denitrification rates in the wetland exhibited significant spatial variations, and the variations were best described by concentration of nitrogen in sediments and water residence time. Analyses of the denitrifying bacteria populations indicated that a few key populations dominated and that the community diversity increased with decreasing nutrient levels and increasing water residence times. Moreover, it was found that denitrification rates in terms of Menten and first order kinetics can be evaluated by fitting a mathematical expression, considering denitrification and other nitrogen transforming processes to measured product formation in nitrate limited experiments.</p>

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Areas susceptibility to water erosion and strong pressure of soil use, as in Southern Brazil, where there is cultivation of tobacco, are prone to degradation of the natural resources. The objective of this dissertation was to evaluate the unsustainability of the natural resources in a watershed under tobacco production, characterized by steep slopes, with intense agricultural exploration and to evaluate the processes related to soil erosion. The watershed is located in the district of Nova Boêmia, Agudo, RS. The watershed has an area of 332 ha, with is subdivided, in right left subbasin, by two streams, forming the main drainage of the Arroio Lino Friedlich, flowing to the Jacuí River. The evaluations were: 1. The evolution of soil use and management, and soil erosion from 2003 to 2005; 2. Physical and environmental factors affecting soil, namely rain erosivity, LS (slope length and steepness) of the Universal Soil Loss Equation, and watershed concentration time; 3. For the quantification of the sediment yield, samples of the suspended sediment were colleted during rain events in the year of 2005, in two control sections, using flow meters that quantified the water flow rate for subsequent determination of the flow and sediment concentration, through from specific rating curves; 4. The annual sediment yield estimation was made through sediment rating curves, using lineal and polynomial models. Precipitation data were obtained automatically from a meteorological station located in the center of the watershed and were used for the determination of rainfall erosivity. Several maps were generated, including classes of factor LS index of the USLE. The results showed that the agricultural areas are increasing and natural vegetation is decreasing. Under this rate, there would be no natural vegetation in 100 years. The concentration time of the watershed is of 12 minutes, meaning that in a short time the whole watershed contributes for the runoff, in accordance with the sudden increase of the water height in the creek. The hydro-sedimentologic components varied mainly with soil moisture, topographical characteristics and rainfall intensity and amount. Erosive rainfall occurred mainly in the second semester of the year, when the soil was also plowed. The right side drainage of the watershed contributed with 80% of the sediment yield and presented higher values of LS factor, more intense soil, presence of highways and gullies and smaller riparian zone. The polynomial model for the sediment rating curves had the best adjustment and was effective in estimating the annual sediment yield. Estimated soil erosion rates from cropland was 0.28 cm ha-1 year and from unpaved roads was 0.12 cm ha-1 year, which are greater than both soil formation and soil loss tolerance rates. These data indicate the unsustainable use of the soils for tobacco growth under current management practices. / Áreas vulneráveis em termos de suscetibilidade à erosão e a forte pressão de uso do solo, como na região Sul do Brasil onde há cultivo de fumo, propiciam a degradação do ambiente. O objetivo foi avaliar a (in)sustentabilidade de agroecossistemas intensamente explorados com a cultura do fumo numa pequena bacia hidrográfica rural de cabeceira com terras declivosas, solos rasos, com ênfase na erosão do solo. A bacia está localizada no distrito de Nova Boêmia, Agudo- RS. A área de captação da bacia corresponde a 332 ha e essa é subdividida, para este estudo, em lados direito (braço direito) e esquerdo (braço esquerdo), em função da rede de drenagem que possui dois córregos, que ao final da secção se juntam em apenas um, formando o braço principal do Arroio Lino Friedlich, afluente do Rio Jacuí. As avaliações foram: 1) quantificação das variáveis de uso e manejo do solo influenciadores da erosão do solo, nos anos de 2003 a 2005; 2) variáveis físico-ambientais influenciadores da erosão do solo, sendo elas a erosividade das chuvas, o fator LS (comprimento do declive L e grau do declive S) da Equação Universal de Perda de Solo, e o tempo de concentração da bacia; 3) medida da produção de sedimentos em suspensão e construção de hietogramas, hidrogramas e sedimentogramas de eventos chuvosos ocorridos no ano de 2005, em seções de controle localizadas no exutório da bacia nos braços esquerdo e principal, nos quais estavam presentes linígrafos que registraram, de forma automática, dados de altura de lâmina de água para posterior determinação da vazão e concentração de sedimentos, a partir de curvas-chave específicas; 4) estimativa da produção de sedimentos anual, a partir da construção de uma curva-chave, sendo avaliados dois modelos, o linear e o polinomial. Dados de precipitação foram obtidos automaticamente numa estação meteorológica situada no centro da bacia e serviram para a determinação do índice de erosividade da chuva. Diversos mapas foram confecionados, sendo um deles o mapa com as classes de fator de LS. Os resultados mostraram que as áreas de lavouras vêm aumentando no decorrer dos anos e, conseqüentemente, as de vegetação natural estão diminuindo. Em se continuando esse processo, em cem anos não mais haverá vegetação natural. O tempo de concentração da bacia é de 12 minutos, significando que num curto espaço de tempo toda a bacia passa a contribuir para o escoamento e confirmando o aumento súbito da altura de lâmina de água no riacho. As componentes hidrossedimentológicas variaram principalmente com a umidade do solo, características topográficas e da precipitação, intensidade e quantidade. Chuvas mais erosivas se situam no segundo semestre do ano, onde o solo estava revolvido pela ação das práticas de cultivo. O lado direito da bacia contribuiu com 80% da produção de sedimentos e apresentou valores mais elevados das classes do fator LS, maior uso antrópico do solo, presença de estradas e ravinas e menor zona ripária. O modelo polinomial para a obtenção da curva-chave de sedimentos teve o melhor ajuste e foi eficaz na estimativa da produção anual de sedimentos. A quantidade de solo erodida e estimada das áreas de lavouras foi de 0,28 cm ha-1 ano, enquanto que das áreas de estradas foi de 0,12 cm ha-1 ano. As perdas por erosão hídrica desses solos da bacia estão muito acima dos valores de suas taxas de formação e também das perdas de solo toleráveis. Isso indica a insustentabilidade perante o atual uso agrícola com a cultura do fumo.

The rapid depletion of hydrocarbon fields around the world has led the industry to search for these resources in ever increasing water depths. In this context, the large diameter (D > 100mm) vertical riser has become a subject of great interest. In this research work, a major investigation was undertaken to determine the two phase flow hydrodynamics in a 254mm vertical riser. Two types of experiments were performed for range of air-water superficial velocities. The first experimental campaign addresses the issue of the two gas injector’s performances (conventional vs. novel design gas injector) in the large diameter vertical riser. The experimental results show that the novel design gas injector should be the preferential choice. The second set of the experimental work investigates the two phase flow hydrodynamics in the vertical riser in detail. The two phase flow patterns and their transitions were identified by combination of visual observations and statistical features. Based on the results, the experimental flow regime map was developed and compared with the existing vertical upflow regime maps/models. None of the flow regime transition models adequately predicted the flow regimes transitions in large diameter vertical risers as a whole. In this regard, the Taitel et al. (1980) bubble to slug flow transition model has been modified for large diameter vertical upflow conditions, based on the physical mechanism observed. The general trends of modified criteria agreed well with the current and other large diameter experimental results. The effect of upstream conditions on the vertical riser flow behaviour was also investigated in detail by two different inlet configurations (i) near riser base injection and (ii) upstream flowline injection. It was found that no significant differences exist in flow behaviour at low air-water superficial velocities for both the inlet configuration, at high air-water superficial velocities, the intermittent flow behavior in flowline influences the riser flow pattern characteristics and thereby controls the riser dynamics. It is found that liquid slugs from the flowline naturally dissipate to some extent in the riser as a consequence of compression of succeeding bubble that rapidly expands and break through the liquid slug preceding it when it enters the riser. The experimental work corroborates the general consensus that slug flow does not exist in large diameter vertical upflow condition. Experimental data has been further compared to increase the confidence on the existing two phase flow knowledge on large diameter vertical riser: (a) by comparing with other experimental studies on large diameter vertical upflow in which generally, a good agreement was found, (b) by assessing the predictive capability of void fraction correlations/pressure gradient methods. The important implication of this assessment is that the mechanistic approach based on specific flow regime in determining the void fraction and pressure gradient is more successful than conventional empirical based approaches. The assessment also proposes a proposed set a of flow regime specific correlations that recommends void fraction correlations based on their performances in the individual flow regimes. Finally, a numerical model to study the hydrodynamic behaviour in the large diameter horizontal flowline-vertical riser system is developed using multiphase flow simulator OLGA. The simulated results show satisfactory agreement for the stable flows while discrepancies were noted for highly intermittent flows. The real time boundary application was partially successful in qualitatively reproducing the trends. The discrepancies between the predicted results and experimental data are likely to be related to the incorrect closure relations used based on incorrect flow regimes predictions. The existence of the multiple roots in the OLGA code is also reported for the first time.