Dilution of Dense Bottom Plumes in Turbulent Currents

The dilution of negatively buoyant discharges released into a turbulent current has been studied both in the laboratory and by means of advanced numerical models. The experiments showed that the dilution is mainly due to vertical turbulent mixing and depends on a buoyancy induced dispersion of the plume. These findings have been incorporated into a calibrated integral description of the dilution. A 3-D numerical model with a k-_∈ parameterisation of the turbulent mixing has been applied to the problem and a comparison between this model and the experiments been made. The conclusions are that the dilution can be realistically described by the model.