Development, calibration and evaluation of two mathematical models for pollutant transport in a small river

Journal article

Authors / Editors

Agachi, Paul

Research Areas

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Publication Details

Author list: Ani EC, Wallis S, Kraslawski A, Agachi PS

Publisher: Elsevier

Place: OXFORD

Publication year: 2009

Journal: Environmental Modelling and Software (1364-8152)

Journal acronym: ENVIRON MODELL SOFTW

Volume number: 24

Issue number: 10

Start page: 1139

End page: 1152

Number of pages: 14

ISSN: 1364-8152

Languages: English-Great Britain (EN-GB)

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Abstract

The present research has two main objectives (1) to build two models for concentration prediction in a stream subject to a pollutant release and (2) to investigate options for estimating the parameters of the models. The models rely on the fundamental advection-dispersion equation and were developed, calibrated and evaluated using tracer data from experiments conducted in the Murray Burn in Edinburgh, UK. During the evaluation by comparison against field data both models were able to predict the main features of the observations at the first three monitoring sites, but results at the final site were less good. These types of models rely very much on the ability to make good estimates of velocity and dispersion coefficients along the stream. Although these parameters could be estimated using tracer experiments, it Would be easier if they could be estimated from other hydraulic data such as the water flow rate and the channel characteristics. For the Murray Burn such models for parameter estimation were developed in the form of non-linear relationships with flow rate. This approach Could be used to calculate the parameters for other similar streams, if the coefficients in the equations were similar. Alternatively, further work would be needed to explore how these coefficients vary between streams. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords

Advection-dispersion equation, Dispersion coefficient estimation, Murray Burn, pollutant transport modelling, River water quality, Tracer experiments, Velocity estimation

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