Desalination plants are becoming essential due to the limited water resources in order to reduce the pressure of high demand of freshwater in many countries in recent decades. A concerning problem associated with desalination plants is the high concentration brine which has high risk to marine environments. Inclined dense jets are commonly used to treat brine produced by desalination plants or in industrial outfall discharges. They are produced when the brine is discharged at an upwardly inclined angle through a pipe or a diffuser system. Previous studies have mainly focused on jets on a horizontal bottom. In the present study, the influence of sloped bottom is investigated by numerical simulations using a modified solver in OpenFOAM (pisoFoam). Four different Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes (RANS) turbulence models (Realizable k-ε, Standard k-ε, RNG k-ε and Nonlinear k-ε were employed to assess the accuracy of the selected turbulence models in predicting the jet behavior. Jets of inclination angle of 30° with four different initial conditions (Froude number=15, 20, 25, 30) on three different bed slope angles (2°, 5°, 10°) in stagnant water were conducted. Although inclined dense jets of the discharge angel of 60° are more common in discharge systems, sometimes they cannot be used in shallow waters in order to prevent surface pollution. In such cases, a relatively small jet inclining angle can be used to prevent the surface pollution and as shown in this thesis, bed slope can enhance the brine mixing and dilution. The results showed that Realizable k-ε model is more accurate among the turbulence models studied herein. The dilution at the impact point can be estimated based on the Froude number and initial conditions. After the impact point, the slope did enhance the dilution of the plume compared to the horizontal bed. The dilution was thus affected by the slope and the dilution after the impact point on the slope appeared to be linearly related to the distance to the source. Besides, the slope could enhance the jet dilution up to 20% compared with the horizontal bed after the impact point.

<p> Tuned Liquid Dampers (TLDs) are increasingly being used to suppress the dynamic vibration of tall buildings. An equivalent mechanical model is essential for rapid analysis and design of a TLD. The most common TLD tank geometries are circular, annular and rectangular. Rectangular tanks are utilized for 1-D and 2-D TLDs, whereas circular and annular are usually applied to axisymmetric structures. The amount of fluid that participates in the sloshing motion is directly influenced by the tank geometry. Although not commonly used, a TLD having a curved-bottom tank is expected to perform more effectively due to its relatively large value of effective mass. The main objective of this study is to develop mechanical models for seven TLDs with different tank geometries including the curved-bottom case, and to theoretically investigate the performance of rectangular, vertical-cylindrical and horizontal-cylindrical TLDs.</p> <p> Potential flow theory, linear long wave theory, Lagrange's equations and virtual work method are employed to develop the equivalent mechanical model parameters of TLDs with rectangular, vertical-cylindrical, horizontal-cylindrical, hyperboloid, triangular, sloped-bottom, and parabolic tank geometries. A rectangular, vertical-cylindrical and horizontal-cylindrical TLD are selected for further study using a single-degree-of-freedom (SDOF) model and a two degree of freedom structure-TLD system model applying the derived equivalent mechanical parameters.</p> <p> The dynamic characteristics of the TLDs as a SDOF system are investigated. The mechanical model is verified by comparing calculated values with experimental results for a rectangular TLD. The free surface motion, sloshing force and energy dissipation are found to be dependent upon the excitation amplitude. Analytical results also indicate that the horizontal-cylindrical TLD possesses the greatest normalized sloshing force and energy dissipation among the TLDs considered.</p> <p> The performances of various TLDs installed in a structure are studied in terms of effective damping, efficiency and robustness. Tuning ratio, structural response amplitude, mass ratio and liquid depth are adjusted to investigate their affect on the performance of the studied TLDs. Performance charts are developed and subsequently used to present the results. It is found that small liquid depth ratio and large mass ratio can lead to a robust structure-TLD system with small relative motion ratio between the structure and the vibration absorber. Comparisons of performance between the three TLDs are made and it can be concluded that the horizontal-cylindrical TLD is the most robust and effective device with the smallest relative motion ratio.</p> / Thesis / Master of Applied Science (MASc)