Physical Model Study of an Alternating Diffuser for Thermal Discharge

Physical model tests were conducted of the mixing of heated water from a proposed thermal diffuser. Dilutions were measured and flows imaged by a three-dimensional laser-induced fluorescence system that provides vastly more data than conventional thermocouple techniques. The flows were quite three-dimensional. For zero current speed, the effluent mixed over the water depth, but only in a limited region, and a two-layer stratified flow developed toward the edges of the effluent field and farther downstream. For zero and slow currents, the lowest surface dilution occurred where the jet centerline intersected the water surface and could be reasonably predicted by simple free-jet calculations. The prediction of an entrainment model, UM3, was close to the observed results because the flow is three-dimensional and the entraining water can be supplied from the ends. CORMIX considerably underestimated the observed dilution because it uses a two-dimensional analysis and neglects the effect of source momentum flux. Two-dimensional analyses and sectional physical models of diffusers with finite lengths should be used with caution until their limitations are better known.