Tracers and Timescales: Tools for Distilling and Simplifying Complex Fluid Mechanical Problems

Lucas, Lisa V.; Deleersnijder, Éric

doi:10.3390/w13192796

Cited by 2 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…Given that parcels originating from different locations and times within the region may take varying durations to exit, residence time is inherently a function of both location and time. It can be calculated using either a forward-in-time or backward-in-time numerical integration [ 39 ]. In this study, we employ a forward Lagrangian particle-tracking approach.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Land reclamation and its consequences: A 40-year analysis of water residence time in Doha Bay, Qatar

Lecart,

Dobbelaere,

Alaerts

et al. 2024

PLoS ONE

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Qatar’s rapid industrialization, notably in its capital city Doha, has spurred a surge in land reclamation projects, leading to a constriction of the entrance to Doha Bay. By reducing and deflecting the ocean circulation, land reclamation projects have reduced the effective dispersion of wastewater introduced into the bay and hence degraded the water quality. Here, we assess fluctuations in water residence time across three distinct eras (1980, 2000, and 2020) to gauge the impact of successive land reclamation developments. To do this, we couple the multi-scale ocean model SLIM with a Lagrangian model for water residence time within Doha’s coastal area. We consider three different topographies of Doha’s shoreline to identify which artificial structures contributed the most to increase water residence time. Our findings reveal that the residual ocean circulation in Doha Bay was predominantly impacted by northern developments post-2000. Between 1980 and 2000, the bay’s residence time saw a modest rise, of about one day on average. However, this was followed by a substantial surge, of three to six days on average, between 2000 and 2020, which is mostly attributable to The Pearl mega artificial island development. Certain regions of the bay witnessed a tripling of water residence time. Given the ongoing population expansion along the coast, it is anticipated that the growth of artificial structures and coastal reclamation will persist, thereby exacerbating the accumulation of pollutants in the bay. Our findings suggest that artificial offshore structures can exert far-reaching, non-local impacts on water quality, which need to be properly assessed during the planning stages of such developments.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Land reclamation and its consequences: A 40-year analysis of water residence time in Doha Bay, Qatar

Lecart,

Dobbelaere,

Alaerts

et al. 2024

PLoS ONE

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“…As emphasized by Lucas and Deleersnijder [42], timescales can provide a simplified, digestible (yet quantitative [43]) picture of the spatial complexity of many flow fields. The age of water particles is one such time scale.…”

Section: Time Scales In Shallow Reservoirsmentioning

confidence: 99%

What does the volume-averaged water age distribution function reveal about flow fields in rectangular shallow reservoirs?

Dewals,

Archambeau,

Erpicum

et al. 2024

Environ Fluid Mech

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Shallow reservoirs are hydraulic structures widely used for water storage or as sedimentation tanks. Their design and sizing are intricate due to the complex flow fields developing in such structures, hence suitable indicators are needed to evaluate their hydraulic performance. Based on the outcomes of a depth-averaged computational model, we analysed the potential of the distribution function of the volume-averaged water age to unveil in a concise way valuable information on the flow field in rectangular shallow reservoirs. Ten different reservoir layouts were examined. In all cases, the shape of the computed distribution function reveals a remarkable amount of information on the flow field in the reservoirs. The distribution functions exhibit a sequence of steps, followed by an exponential decay, which may be related to fast and slow pathways travelled by water particles along their routes across the reservoirs. As such, the distribution function of the volume-averaged water age was found to provide valuable information for assessing the hydraulic performance of shallow reservoirs, while achieving an effective reduction in the problem dimensionality.

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Tracers and Timescales: Tools for Distilling and Simplifying Complex Fluid Mechanical Problems

Abstract: The last several decades have seen significant advances in fluid–mechanical, water-quality, and ecological observation systems, as well as in related scientific computing capabilities [...]

Cited by 2 publications

References 24 publications

Land reclamation and its consequences: A 40-year analysis of water residence time in Doha Bay, Qatar

Land reclamation and its consequences: A 40-year analysis of water residence time in Doha Bay, Qatar

What does the volume-averaged water age distribution function reveal about flow fields in rectangular shallow reservoirs?

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