Water quality model development for estuaries: A combinednumerical and experimental approach

In recent years, there has been an increased interest in the mass generation of electricity from renewable resources which were previously not economically attractive or technically feasible for large scale exploitation. Amongst these, tidal energy resource is now being considered to form a significant part of the energy mix, with plans for mass exploitation in the near future. Previous numerical modelling studies have shown that tidal renewable energy schemes could significantly alter the tidal flow characteristics and hydrodynamic regime of a water body. However, as yet, there have been no numerical modelling studies on the potential impact of these schemes on water quality, particularly the nutrient levels and eutrophication potential. This study aims to address this research gap by applying a 3-D computational model to assess the potential water quality impacts of tidal renewable energy schemes in the Severn Estuary. In order to enable a more robust modelling assessment, laboratory experiments were conducted to support the refinement of the key coefficient of the model which represents the adsorption of phosphates to suspended sediments. This study shows the effect of salinity on phosphate adsorption and an empirical formulation is derived for the model refinement.

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