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Winter temperature gradients in circular clarifiers
Author(s) -
Wells Scott A.,
LaLiberte David M.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
water environment research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.356
H-Index - 73
eISSN - 1554-7531
pISSN - 1061-4303
DOI - 10.2175/106143098x123642
Subject(s) - clarifier , buoyancy , inflow , current (fluid) , suspension (topology) , mechanics , heat flux , environmental science , flux (metallurgy) , convection , momentum (technical analysis) , hydrology (agriculture) , heat transfer , materials science , atmospheric sciences , geology , thermodynamics , geotechnical engineering , environmental engineering , physics , mathematics , finance , homotopy , economics , pure mathematics , metallurgy
To understand the effect of temperature‐induced density currents on circular clarifiers, a field study was performed on three uncovered circular tanks in Oregon during periods of low flow and high surface cooling. Temperatures were measured as a function of radial position and tank depth. Meteorological parameters were also measured to compute the surface heat flux from the water surface. Water temperatures in the tank were often 20 to 30 °C warmer than the equilibrium temperature.
These studies showed that density currents and unstable temperature gradients were common. Surface temperatures were often approximately 1 °C cooler than bottom temperatures. The momentum and suspended solids of the inflow caused a density current that moved along the clarifier bottom and then rose near the middle of the tank. In the winter, this density current rose as a result of the decrease of initial momentum of the inflow, the buoyancy of the inflow after suspended solids had settled, and the geometry of the tank. Also, vertical velocities induced by surface cooling were two orders of magnitude greater than the overflow rate, suggesting that particles could be kept in suspension by convective currents.