Numerical modeling of dissolved oxygen recovery during aeration in lakes

Abstract

One of available lake restoration technologies is injection of compressed air or oxygen into a hypolimnion, promoting vertical mixing of water and dissolution of oxygen.A numerical model has been developed for simulation of bubble flow, with consideration of gas compressibility and oxygen dissolution. The developed model is intended to be utilized for simulation of lakes DO recovery. The model is firstly verified by simulation of bubble flow experiments, reported in the literature, where very good quantitative and qualitative agreement between measured and simulated results is observed. Both flowconfigurations are tested: inwhich steady state is achieved, andwhere steady conditions can not develop. In the second part, model is applied for simulation of conducted experiments where oxygen dissolution has been considered. The paper presents simulation results, where good agreement of simulated and measured quantities is observed.