Determination of water flushing characteristics and their influencing factors on the Dahuofang Reservoir in China using an improved ECOMSED model

Abstract

A three-dimensional hydrodynamic model with the capability to deal with changing land water boundaries was developed based on ECOMSED in this study. The model was configured to numerically study the water flushing characteristics of Dahuofang Reservoir in China through the determination of spatially distributed residence times. The model successfully reproduced the intra-annual water level variations, as well as the temporal evolution and spatial distribution of water temperature. Through a series of numerical experiments, it can be concluded that (1) the water flushing of the reservoir is both temporally and spatially variable; and (2) inflows and withdrawals are the decisive factors influencing the water flushing characteristics. Heat fluxes are the controlling factors of the water flushing of a strong stratified reservoir. Wind has the weakest effect, but it still should be considered in determination of reservoir water flushing characteristics.

Keywords

numerical modeling / residence time / flushing / influence factor / Dahuofang Reservoir

Ming ZHANG, Ph.D. candidate at the State Key Laboratory of Coastal & Offshore Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, was born in 1985. He obtained his B.S. in the School of Water Resources and Hydropower Engineering, Wuhan University in 2005. He has worked as a Master-Doctor combined program graduate student at Dalian University of Technology since 2005. His research interests are mainly on Environmental Hydraulics and Computational Hydraulics, specifically on modeling hydrodynamics and water quality of estuaries, coastal waters, and reservoirs. Email: [e-mail]

Dr. Yongming SHEN, Professor at the Dalian University of Technology, obtained his Ph.D, M.S., and B.S. from Chengdu University of Science and Technology in 1991, 1988, and 1983, respectively. After he received his Ph.D., he worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the State Key Laboratory of Coastal & Offshore Engineering, Dalian University of Technology for two years, and then joined the Dalian University of Technology as an Associate Professor. Currently, he is a Professor at Dalian University of Technology. His primary research interests are focused on the areas of Environmental Hydraulics and Computational Hydraulics, with special emphasis on modeling of hydrodynamics, water quality and oil spills for rivers and coastal waters. Dr. Shen has published over 194 journal papers. Email: [e-mail]

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Acknowledgements

This research is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51279023) and by the National Basic Research Program of China (Grant No. 2013CB430403).

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

2014 Higher Education Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg