Treatment of Stagnant Zones in Riverine Advection-Dispersion

Advection-dispersion in streams encounters pockets of stagnant or dead zones in the flow, which trap the injected tracer. Treatment of stagnant or dead zones for dispersion is presented using one-dimensional advection-dispersion equation. A method is suggested for simultaneous estimation of dispersion coefficient, apparent (or effective) velocity, and effective injected mass of tracer, from a temporal concentration profile observed at a downstream section. The method is robust and uses a nonlinear optimization. Using the method procedure for estimation of adsorption coefficient for riverine advectiondispersion has also been suggested. The effective velocity is related to the stagnant zone fraction (average fraction of crosssectional area attributed to stagnant zones) and adsorption. The application of the method on published data sets show that the parameter-estimates are reliable and the observed concentration profiles are closely reproduced. The analytical procedure described for the treatment of stagnant zones may have a wide application in civil engineering as well as other fields. The amount of chemicals released from the industrial units or by an accident can be estimated.