HYDRODYNAMIC CLASSIFICATION OF SUBMERGED SINGLE-PORT DISCHARGES

Discharges into ambient water bodies by means of a sumerged single-port jet flow can exhibit a great diversity of flow patterns, depending on the geometric and dynamic characteristics of the environment and the discharge flow. A rigorous classification scheme has been developed-based on a length-scale representation of all dynamic features-that classifies the possible flow configurations into 35 generic flow classes. The classification is applicable to an ambient cross-flow with different types of density stratification, and to discharge conditions with arbitrary jet orientation angles and positive or negative buoyancy. The scheme has been validated with a wide variety of available laboratory and field data. The classification procedure has been implemented in the expert system CORMIX for analysis of the pollutant mixing zone, but also can be used for the general discharge design and selection of appropriate predictive models.