Near-Field Dilution Characteristics of a Negatively Buoyant Hypersaline Jet Generated by a Desalination Plant

Abstract

Field experiments were conducted to investigate the near-field dilution characteristics of a hypersaline brine discharge into coastal waters via an offshore diffuser from a desalination plant. The aim was to determine the dilution of the negatively buoyant plume as it exited the diffuser under three different discharge Froude number regimes (one-third, two-thirds, and full-flow capacity) and to compare these measurements to scaling arguments derived from laboratory measurements. Equations based on the densimetric jet Froude number F, obtained from laboratory experiments, were found to adequately describe the dilution of the brine for cases when F>20. For F<20, no laboratory results exist and the dilution was found to be greater than that anticipated from an extrapolation of the laboratory results.