PROBLEMS 121

PROBLEMS

3.1. Demostrar que ∇·V
0 para fluidos incompresibles, donde es el campo de velocidad en el fluido.
3.2. Fifty kilograms of toxic material is spilled uniformly across a canal. The canal istrapezoidal
with a bottom width of 3m,side slopes of 2.5:1 (H:V),and a depth of flowof 1.7m. The discharge in
the canal is 16m3/s, and the longitudinal dispersioncoefficient is 7m2/s.

(a) How soon after the spill will the peak concentration be observed 12 km down-
stream of the spill, and what is the maximum concentration expected at that loca-
tion?
(b) If a safe level of this contaminant in recreational waters is 15 µg/L, for approxi-
mately how long will the water at the downstream location be unsafe?
(c) What length of canal is contaminated 2 h after the spill?
3.3. Water stored in a reservoir behind a gate contains a toxic contaminant at a concentration
of 1 mg/L. If the gate is opened and water flows downstream at a velocity of 30 cm/s and
122 FATE AND TRANSPORT IN AQUATIC SYSTEMS

with a longitudinal dispersion coefficient of 10 m2/s, how long after the gate is opened
will the concentration of the contaminant 1 km downstream be equal to 10 µg/L?
3.4. Two kilograms of a contaminant is spilled into an open channel at a location 20 m
from the end of the channel. The channel has a rectangular cross section 8 m wide
and 2 m deep, and the diffusion coefficient along the channel is estimated as 5 m2/s.
(a) Assuming that the contaminant is initially well mixed across the channel,
express the concentration as a function of time at the end of the channel.
(b) How long will it take for the contaminant concentrations 10 m upstream (in the
direction of the channel end) to be 20% higher than the concentration 10 m
downstream of the spill (in the direction away from the channel end)?
3.5. Two kilograms of a contaminant is spilled at a point in a 3-m-deep reservoir. The
contaminant is spilled at x
0, y
0, and is instantaneously mixed over the entire
depth (in the z-direction).
(a) If the diffusion coefficients in the x (E-W) and y (N-S) directions are 10 and
20 m2/s, respectively, calculate the concentration as a function of time at a point
50 m north and 50 m east of the spill.
(b) What is the concentration at the spill location after 1 min?
3.6. A vertical diffuser discharges wastewater at a rate of 3 m3/s uniformly over a 4-m-
deep reservoir. If the wastewater contains 100 mg/L of a conservative tracer for 20 h,
calculate the concentration of the contaminant as a function of time during this 20-
h period at a distance of 150 m from the outfall. Assume that the diffusion coefficient
in the reservoir is equal to 15 m2/s.
3.7. A bridge crosses a river 4.5 km upstream of a water-supply intake, and in recent
years, there have been several contaminant spills at the river crossing, primarily on
the side of the river opposite the water-supply intake. The river is 30 m wide, 3 m
deep, has an average flow of 13.5 m3/s, the longitudinal dispersion coefficient in the
river is estimated to be 1.27 m2/s, and the transverse coefficient is 0.0127 m2/s. What
mass of contaminant spilled at the bridge (on the opposite side to the intake) would
lead to a contaminant concentration at the intake equal to 1 mg/L?
3.8. Five kilograms of a toxic contaminant is released deep into the ocean and spreads in
all three coordinate directions.
(a) If the N-S, E-W, and vertical diffusion coefficients are 15, 20, and 0.5 m2/s,
respectively, find the concentration at a point 50 m north, 50 m east, and 5 m
above the release point as a function of time.
(b) What is the concentration at the release point after 12 h? Assume no reactions
and no advection.
3.9. Eight kilograms of a contaminant in the form of a 1 m  1 m  1 m parallepiped is
released into the deep ocean. If the N-S, E-W, and vertical diffusion coefficients are
15, 10, and 0.1 m2/s, respectively, find the concentration as a function of time at a
location 25 m north, 25 m east, and 5 m above the centroid of the initial mass release.
3.10. A submarine releases 100 kg of waste at a location 25 m below the surface of the
ocean. If the ambient current is 30 cm/s to the north and the components of the
diffusion coefficient are 12, 5, and 1 m2/s in the N-S, E-W, and vertical directions,
determine the maximum concentration as a function of time and the concentration
 PROBLEMS 123

at the release location after 1 h. Utilize the principle of superposition to account for
the presence of the ocean surface. Explain how you would account for the solubil-
ity of the waste in your calculations.
3.11. The suspended solids in a 200 m  200 m lake is measured to be 45 mg/L, and the
average settling velocity is estimated as 0.1 m/day.
(a) Estimate the rate at which sediment mass is accumulating on the bottom of the
lake.
(b) If the suspended -solids concentration remains fairly steady and the water leav-
ing the lake does not have a significant suspended sediment content, at what rate
is sediment mass entering the lake?
3.12. El fitoplancton Coscinodiscus lineatus tiene un diámetro típico de 50 µm y una
densidad estimada de 1600 kg /m 3 . Suponiendo que el fitoplancton es
aproximadamente esférico y que la temperatura del agua es de 20 °C, estime la
velocidad de sedimentación utilizando la ecuación de Stokes. Compare su resultado
con la velocidad de sedimentación dada en la Tabla 3.3 y proporcione las posibles
razones de cualquier discrepancia.
3.13. A stormwater outfall discharges runoff into a pristine river (with negligible dissolved
solids) such that the suspended-solids concentration of the combined water just
downstream of the outfall is 100 mg/L. The settling velocity of the sediment is esti-
mated to be 2 m/day, the flow velocity in the river is 0.4 m/s, and the river is 10 m
wide and 2 m deep.
(a) How far downstream from the outfall will it be before the suspended sediment
all settles out?
(b) Estimate the rate at which sediment is accumulating downstream of the outfall.
3.14. Consider the (common) case in which an outfall discharges treated domestic waste-
water at a rate of 80 L/s with a suspended-solids concentration of 30 mg/L into a
river. The suspended solids are composed of predominantly silt particles, and the
river has a trapezoidal shape with a flow depth of 4 m, a bottom width of 6 m, and
side slopes of 2:1 (H:V). The mean velocity in the river is 3 cm/s.
(a) Estimate the distance from the outfall within which most of the suspended par-
ticles are deposited on the bottom.
(b) Estimate the rate at which sediment is accumulating on the bottom within 500 m
of the outfall.