Near field brine discharge modeling part 2: Validation of commercial tools Original Research Article

Brine discharge is a recent environmental concern in countries where desalination production has been increased and there are protected marine ecosystems. Numerical modeling is an efficient tool useful for predicting brine behavior in seawater. CORMIX, VISUAL PLUMES and VISJET are some of the most used commercial software for modeling negatively buoyant effluents, such as brine. A detailed analysis of these models has been carried out in the companion article: “Near Field brine discharge modeling Part I: Analysis of commercial tools” (Palomar et al., submitted for publication) , including the most important aspects to consider when using the models. This manuscript completes the companion paper (Palomar et al., submitted for publication) by including an exhaustive validation of these commercial tools, using published experimental data. The validation focuses on the near field region of dense single port jets discharged into both stagnant and dynamic environments. An estimation of the discrepancies obtained by these models for different designs is also included. Conclusions are provided relating to the reliability and accuracy of the commercial models. This paper, together with its companion, represents the global research which aims to improve the quality of environmental impact assessments of desalination plants, while reducing the degree of uncertainty associated with the use of these commercial models for simulating brine discharges.