Shear flow dispersion under wave and current

Abstract

The longitudinal dispersion of solute in open channel flow with short period progressive waves is investigated. The waves induce second order drift velocity in the direction of propagation and enhance the mixing process in concurrent direction. The 1-D wave-period-averaged dispersion equation is derived and an expression for the wave-current induced longitudinal dispersion coefficient (WCLDC) is proposed based on Fischer' s expression (1979) for dispersion in unidirectional flow. The result shows that the effect of waves on dispersion is mainly due to the cross-sectional variation of the drift velocity. Furthermore, to obtain a more practical expression of the WCLDC, the longitudinal dispersion coefficient due to Seo and Cheong (1998) is modified to incluee the effect of drift velocity. Laboratory experiments have been conducted to verify the proposed expression. The experimental results, together with dimensional analysis, show that the wave effect can be reflected by the ratio between the wave amplitude and wave period. A comparative study between the cases with and without waves demonstrates that the magnitude of the longitudinal dispersion coefficient is increased under the presence of waves.