Effects of Straits on Hydro-Thermal Performance of Small Bays

Abstract

The heated surface jet discharged into a bay which is connected to a larger body of water through a strait may experience bifurcation in the bay and stratification in the strait. The combined effects of bifurcation and stratification may lead to a substantially greater rise in temperature than the rise expected in case of unrestricted receiving body of water. In this study, the behavior of heated effluents discharged into bays with a restricted access to a large body of water is scrutinized experimentally by the help of a scaled physical model. Dimensional analysis leads to a new dimensionless parameter A(r), area restriction parameter, on which the difference between the excess temperatures at the inlet of the strait for restricted and free receiving mediums, Delta(Delta T/Delta T-0) is shown to be strongly dependent.