The research undertaken for this Ph.D. thesis concerns the dispersion of solutes in sinuous open channel flows. The aim of the work is to address the void in knowledge and understanding of mixing and transport processes in natural watercourses. The influences of plan form curvature and non-uniform cross sectional shape on transverse and longitudinal mixing are specifically addressed. Experimental work was undertaken on the Flood Channel Facility at HR Wallingford Ltd. This involved creating a pseudo natural sand channel within the concrete meander plan form of the facility, and then stabilising the form. Tracer studies using instantaneous injection to investigate longitudinal mixing and continuous point source release to study transverse mixing were performed. Fluorescent tracer was used. Measurement was by six Turner Design Field Fluorometers in pump through mode and these were digitally logged. Detailed hydrodynamic measurements were made using a two-dimensional Laser Doppler Anemometer (LDA) fitted with a 14mm fibre-flow probe. The resulting data has undergone robust analysis and detailed interpretation. The conclusions are that the dominant processes in mixing, in the natural channel form studied, are shear effects. Simple equations for the prediction of flow fields have been investigated and validated against LDA measurements. It has been possible to make accurate predictions of the transverse and longitudinal mixing coefficients from the predicted flow fields. These predictions have been shown valid for the variations in mixing coefficients over the meander cycle and with discharge.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:324444 |
| Date | January 2000 |
| Creators | Boxall, Joseph B. |
| Publisher | University of Sheffield |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/14803/ |
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