Integrated modeling of 2D urban surface and 1D sewer hydrodynamic processes and flood risk assessment of people and vehicles.

In order to accurately simulate the whole urban flooding processes and assess the flood risks to people and vehicles in floodwaters, a 2D-surface and a 1D-sewer integrated hydrodynamic model was proposed in this study, with the module of flood risk assessment of people and vehicles being included. The proposed model was firstly validated by a dual-drainage laboratory experiment on the flood inundation process over a typical urban street, and the relative importance of model parameters and model uncertainties were evaluated using the GSA-GLUE method. Then the model was applied to simulate an actual urban flooding process that occurred in Glasgow, UK, with the influence of the sewer drainage system on flood inundation processes and hazard degree distributions of people and vehicles being comprehensively discussed. The following conclusions are drawn from this study: (i) The proposed model has a high degree of accuracy with the NSE values of key hydraulic variables greater than 0.8 and the GSA indicates that Manning roughness coefficients for surface and sewer flows, inlet weir and orifice discharge coefficients, are the most relevant parameters to influence the simulated results; (ii) vehicles are vulnerable to larger water depths while human stability is significantly influenced by higher flow velocities, with the overall flood risk of people being less than that of vehicles; and (iii) about 88.7% of the total inflow volume was drained to the sewer network, and the sewer drainage system greatly reduced the flood risks to people and vehicles except the local areas with large inundation water depths, where the sewer drainage increased the local flow velocity leading to higher flood risks especially for people.

Hydro-epidemiological modelling of bacterial transport and decay in nearshore coastal waters.

In recent years, society has become more aware and concerned with the environmental and human health impacts of population growth and urbanisation. In response, a number of legislative measures have been introduced within Europe (and globally), which have sparked much cross-disciplinary research aimed at predicting and quantifying these impacts, and suggesting mitigation measures. In response to such measures this paper is focused on improving current understanding of, and simulating water quality, in the form of bacterial transport and decay, in the aquatic environment and particularly in macro-tidal environments. A number of 2D and 3D hydro-epidemiological models were developed using the TELEMAC suite to predict faecal bacterial levels for a data rich pilot site, namely Swansea Bay, located in the south west of the UK, where more than 7,000 FIO samples were taken and analysed over a two year period. A comparison of 2D and 3D modelling approaches highlights the importance of accurately representing source momentum terms in hydro-epidemiological models. Improvements in 2D model bacterial concentration predictions were achieved by the application of a novel method for representing beach sources within the nearshore zone of a macro-tidal environment. In addition, the use of a depth-varying decay rate was found to enhance the prediction of Faecal Indicator Organism concentrations in 3D models. Recommendations are made for the use of these novel approaches in future modelling studies.

Modelling the transport and decay processes of microbial tracers in a macro-tidal estuary.

The Loughor Estuary is a macro-tidal coastal basin, located along the Bristol Channel, in the South West of the U.K. The maximum spring tidal range in the estuary is up to 7.5 m, near Burry Port Harbour. This estuarine region can experience severe coastal flooding during high spring tides, including extreme flooding of the intertidal saltmarshes at Llanrhidian, as well as the lower industrial and residential areas at Llanelli and Gowerton. The water quality of this estuarine basin needs to comply with the designated standards for safe recreational bathing and shellfish harvesting industries. The waterbody however, potentially receives overloading of bacterial inputs that enter the estuarine system from both point and diffuse sources. Therefore, a microbial tracer study was carried out to get a better understanding of the faecal bacteria sources and to enable a hydro-environmental model to be refined and calibrated for both advection and dispersion transport. A two-dimensional hydro-environmental model has been refined and extended to predict the highest water level covering the intertidal floodplains of the Loughor Estuary. The validated hydrodynamic model for both water levels and currents, was included with the injected mass of microbial tracer, i.e. MS2 coliphage from upstream of the estuary, and modelled as a non-conservative tracer over several tidal cycles through the system. The calibration and validation of the transport and decay of microbial tracer was undertaken, by comparing the model results and the measured data at two different sampling locations. The refined model developed as a part of this study, was used to acquire a better understanding of the water quality processes and the potential sources of bacterial pollution in the estuary.

Modelling the fate and transport of faecal bacteria in estuarine and coastal waters.

This paper details a numerical model developed to predict the fate and transport of faecal bacteria in receiving surface waters. The model was first validated by comparing model predicted faecal bacteria concentrations with available field measurements. The model simulations agreed well with the observation data. After calibration, the model was applied to investigate the effects of different parameters, including: tidal processes, river discharges from the upstream boundaries and bacteria inputs from the upstream boundaries, wastewater treatment works (WwTWs), rivers and combined sewer overflows (CSO), on the concentrations of faecal bacteria in the Ribble Estuary. The results revealed that the tide and upstream boundary bacteria inputs were the primary factors controlling the distribution of faecal bacteria. The bacteria inputs from the WwTWs in the model domain were generally found not to have a significant impact on distribution of faecal bacteria in the estuary.

Predicting the disinfection efficiency range in chlorine contact tanks through a CFD-based approach.

In this study three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models, incorporating appropriately selected kinetic models, were developed to simulate the processes of chlorine decay, pathogen inactivation and the formation of potentially carcinogenic by-products in disinfection contact tanks (CTs). Currently, the performance of CT facilities largely relies on Hydraulic Efficiency Indicators (HEIs), extracted from experimentally derived Residence Time Distribution (RTD) curves. This approach has more recently been aided with the application of CFD models, which can be calibrated to predict accurately RTDs, enabling the assessment of disinfection facilities prior to their construction. However, as long as it depends on HEIs, the CT design process does not directly take into consideration the disinfection biochemistry which needs to be optimized. The main objective of this study is to address this issue by refining the modelling practices to simulate some reactive processes of interest, while acknowledging the uneven contact time stemming from the RTD curves. Initially, the hydraulic performances of seven CT design variations were reviewed through available experimental and computational data. In turn, the same design configurations were tested using numerical modelling techniques, featuring kinetic models that enable the quantification of disinfection operational parameters. Results highlight that the optimization of the hydrodynamic conditions facilitates a more uniform disinfectant contact time, which correspond to greater levels of pathogen inactivation and a more controlled by-product accumulation.

Modelling importance of sediment effects on fate and transport of enterococci in the Severn Estuary, UK.

The paper detailed a water quality modelling study of a hyper-tidal estuary, undertaken to assess the impact of various bacteria input loads on the receiving waters in a coastal basin in the UK, by using the model developed in previous study of the same authors enterococci, used as the indicators for bathing water quality under the new European Union (EU) Bathing Water Directive, were numerically modelled using a hydro-environmental model. In particular, the numerical model used in this study includes the effects of sediment on bacteria transport processes in surface water. Finally, the importance of sediment bacteria inputs on the bathing water quality was also investigated under different weather and tidal condition. During spring tide, the bacteria input from the bed sediments are dominant for both wet and dry weather conditions. During neap tides and during dry weather conditions the inputs of bacteria from the bed sediment were still dominant, but during wet weather conditions the inputs from river were dominant. Under different tidal flow conditions some parameters had a more significant role than others. During high flow conditions the sediment re-suspensions processes were dominant, therefore the bed bacteria concentrations played a dominant role on the overall bacteria concentration levels in the water column. In contrast, during low flow conditions sediment deposition prevails and bacteria are removed from the water column. The partition coefficient was found to be more important than the bed bacteria concentrations, during low flow conditions.

Appraisal of chlorine contact tank modelling practices.

With new water directives imposing strict regulations to reduce the footprint of treatment operations and contaminant levels, a performance review of water treatment facilities, including Chlorine Contact Tanks (CCTs) is required. This paper includes a critical appraisal of the international literature on CCT modelling practices to date, aiming to assist the identification of areas requiring further development, in particular, relating to the computational modelling capability and availability of tools to assist hydraulic design and optimisation studies of CCTs. It notes that the hydraulic optimisation practice of poorly designed tanks commenced with experimental studies undertaken in the 1960s and 1970s, which involved mainly two types of studies, namely in situ tracer tests and laboratory physical modelling. The former has traditionally been conducted to diagnose the hydraulic performance of existing CCTs, typically based on results such as Residence Time Distribution (RTD) curves and values of the Hydraulic Efficiency Indicators (HEIs). The latter has been useful in trial and error testing of the impact of certain design modifications on those results, with suggestions for later improvements of the field scale unit. In the 1980s mathematical and numerical modelling studies started to be used to assist CCT investigations, offering a greater level of detail in a more cost-effective manner than equivalent experimentally based investigations. With the growth of computing power and the popularisation of computational models, the 1990s saw the development and application of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) tools to simulate the hydraulic performance of CCTs, sometimes independently of experimentation, other than by using available data to calibrate and validate modelling predictions. This has led to the current scenario of CFD models being invaluable assistive tools in optimisation studies of CCTs, with the experimentation practice continuing to allow for specific diagnostics and to supply data for the calibration and validation of CFD modelling results. The vast majority of CCT modelling studies published to date have focused on simulating CCT hydrodynamic and conservative solute transport processes. The chlorination kinetics and Disinfection By-Product (DBP) formation have rarely been contemplated in computer modelling studies of CCTs. Commercially available CFD models have not traditionally been applied with this purpose, while research studies undertaken using open source codes to produce tailor-made applications are rare. Aspects that could benefit from further understanding and/or development include the impact of scale when conducting experimentation with prototypes, adequate turbulence closure for a given situation, adequate numerical schemes vis-à-vis CFD model complexity vis-à-vis cost-benefit ratio of simulations and the inclusion of state of the art chlorination kinetics and DBP formation modelling in the CFD tools that can assist modern design and retrofit studies of CCTs.

Numerical modelling of sediment-bacteria interaction processes in surface waters.

Faecal bacteria exist in both free-living and attached forms in surface waters. The deposition of sediments can take faecal bacteria out of the water column and to the bed. The sediments can subsequently be re-suspended into the water column, which can then lead to the re-suspension of the faecal bacteria of the attached form back into the water column, where it may desorb from the sediments. Therefore, the fate and transport of faecal bacteria is highly related to the governing sediment transport processes, particularly where these processes are significant. However, little attempt has been made to model such processes in terms of predicting the impact of the sediment fluxes on faecal bacteria levels. Details are given of the refinement of a numerical model of faecal bacteria transport, where the sediment transport processes are significant. This model is based on the model DIVAST (Depth Integrated Velocities And Solute Transport). Analytical solutions for steady and uniform flow conditions were derived and used to test the sediment-bacteria interaction model. After testing the sediment-bacteria interaction model favourably against known results, the model was then set up for idealized case studies to investigate the effects of sediment on bacteria concentrations in the water column. Finally the model was applied to a simplified artificial flooding study to investigate the impact of suspended sediment fluxes on the corresponding bacteria transport processes. The model predictions have proved to be encouraging, with the results being compared to field measurements.

Flow and transport simulation models for prediction of chlorine contact tank flow-through curves.

Turbulent flow, solute transport, and chemical and biological decay are some of the basic processes encountered in water treatment plants. This paper presents recent developments in the numerical simulation of turbulent flow and disinfection processes in disinfection contact tanks. Simulation runs have been conducted for various tank design alternatives and in different grid resolutions. The accuracy of simulated contact tank flow and the disinfection process depends largely on calculations of the hydrodynamic and solute transport characteristics in the tanks. A key factor of this is the accuracy of advection and shear stress term computations, which can be affected by the use of different hydrodynamic submodels and numerical schemes. The performance of a simulation model relies to a great extent on the right combination of such submodels and numerical schemes. In this study, a number of simulation models were tested against realistic tank configurations and measurements to evaluate the various combinations of turbulence models and difference schemes by analyzing predicted flow and solute transport patterns, as well as the corresponding flow-through curves. Models for disinfection tank simulations are recommended based on comparisons of simulation results with measurements. These models may also be applied to other water treatment processes such as wastewater treatment.

Longitudinal dispersion coefficients in natural channels.

Details are given herein, of the development of an equation for predicting the longitudinal dispersion coefficient in riverine flows, based on 81 sets of measured data, and obtained from 30 rivers in the USA. This equation relates the dispersion coefficient to the hydraulic and geometric parameters of the flow and has been derived using dimensional and regression analysis, with a high correlation coefficient (i.e. R2 = 0.84). The formulation has been compared with many other existing empirical equations, frequently used to predict the longitudinal dispersion coefficient in riverine flows, with the comparisons based on four different statistical methods. These statistical comparisons have shown that the new equation appears to be more accurate than the other equations considered. The new dispersion equation was then linearly combined with a similar equation recently proposed by Seo and Cheong (J. Hydraul. Eng. ASCE 124 (1998) 25) and this combined equation was then also analysed using statistical methods. The existing empirical equations used to estimate the longitudinal dispersion coefficient and the new equations proposed in this study were included in the advective dispersion equation to predict the suspended sediment concentrations at three sites in the Humber Estuary sited along the northeast coast of England. The average percentage errors between the predicted- and measured-field data for the proposed new dispersion equations were less than those obtained using the previously documented equations.