Hyper-saline brine discharges into tidal coastal waters

该项目将调查当浓盐水从工业排放扩散器排放到沿海沃茨时，影响浓盐水稀释的过程。浓盐水是溶液采矿和海水淡化厂产生的废物，当它被排放到沿海沃茨时，对海洋动物和植物群有害。该项目将模拟盐水浓度通过与沿海沃茨混合而稀释的方式，并将量化在水流和背景湍流作用下盐水从排放口扩散器扩散时发生的混合。这个问题将通过实验室实验、数学分析和计算机模拟来建模，以便可以理解、参数化和量化重要的混合过程。还将分析从现有盐水排放扩散器周围的沃茨定期采集的存档现场监测测量结果，并与建模结果和预测进行比较。通过将这些建模和现场方法相结合，该项目的结果可用于为排污口设计人员和环境监测机构提供指导，使他们能够预测盐水稀释和污染。

The project will investigate the processes affecting the dilution of dense, concentrated brine when it is discharged from an industrial outfall diffuser into coastal waters. Concentrated brine is produced as a waste product from solution mining and desalination plants and it is harmful to marine fauna and flora when it is discharged into coastal waters. This project will model the ways in which the concentration of brine is diluted by mixing with the coastal waters and it will quantify the mixing taking place as the brine spreads away from the outfall diffuser under the action of currents and background turbulence. The problem will be modelled by means of laboratory experiments, mathematical analyses and computer simulations so that the important mixing processes can be understood, parameterised and quantified. Archived field monitoring measurements taken on a regular basis from the waters around an existing brine discharge diffuser will also be analysed and compared with the modelling results and predictions. By combining these modelling and field approaches, the results of the project can be used to provide guidance to outfall designers and environmental monitoring agencies to enable them to predict brine dilution and contamination.