A numerical study of thermal pollution in sea water

Abstract EN

The unsteady thermal field resulting from the discharge of thermal effluents into an offshore location in the Arabian Gulf area is investigated.

The investigation is based on a numerical solution of the unsteady energy equation in the presence of a simulated time-dependent water current and atmospheric conditions.

In the analysis, the warm fluid is assumed to be confined to an upper layer of constant depth and accordingly the problem is assumed two-dimensional.

The velocity distribution in the flow domain is obtained from a hydrodynamic model that takes into consideration the effects of wind direction and speed, tidal effects, and site conditions.

The details of the thermal field are obtained for a typical day during each of the four seasons.

The resulting thermal plume geometry is found to depend strongly on the prevailing water current.

The range of variation of various thermal plume areas are obtained for each season.

The results are presented in the form of isotherm patterns as well as 3-D plots for the temperature distribution.