U.S.-Swiss Collaborative Research: Hypolimnetic Oxygenation of Stratified Reservoirs

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9908145LittleThis one-year award for an U.S.-Swiss research project in environmental technology supports Dr. John C. Little and a graduate student from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University for collaboration with Dr. Alfred J. Wuest, head of the Environmental Physic Program at the Federal Institute for Technology in Zurich, Switzerland. The project addresses the impact of bubble-plume diffusers on a water-supply reservoir. Bubble-plume diffusers are used to replenish oxygen in the hypolimnion of stratified reservoirs. These devices are required to preserve cold-water fisheries, improve raw water quality in water-supply reservoirs, and mitigate environmental consequences of hydropower generation. Evidence indicates that bubble-plume diffusers can have a significant impact on ambient conditions within a reservoir (promoting mixing and enhancing sediment oxygen demand), and that conditions within a reservoir can in turn have a severe impact on the performance of a bubble-plume. The investigators propose to develop an integrated model in which the behavior of both bubble-plume diffusers and the reservoir are coupled. This collaboration takes advantage of the complementary expertise of the U.S. investigator in cross-media mass transfer and the Swiss investigator's in bubble-plume modeling and aeration technology.