Far-field transport of effluent plumes discharged from Masan sea outfalls

Abstract

A 3-D particle tracking model with normalized characteristic equations has been developed to predict the variation of near-field mixing characteristics and the far-field transport of the effluent plumes discharged from sea outfalls. The model was applied to the case study on the Masan sea outfall plumes discharged through a submerged multiport-diffuser. Numerical simulations of the effluent transport for 15 days which cover neap and spring tidal cycles in Masan Bay were conducted using fall velocities of the solid wastes and the initial plume characteristics obtained from normalized near-field characteristic equations. The results showed that time variations in near-field minimum dilutions with tidal ambient flow conditions are about 45-49. Most of the heavy particles in the effluent plumes were settled and deposited in the vicinity of the outfalls immediately, and the finer particles were transported eastwards 3 km away from the outfalls for 15 days. A similar depositional trend of contaminated sediment was also found during a recent field survey.