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In order to mitigate the impact of large spreading brine discharges from desalination plants, which affect the benthic communities at the sea bottom, a study was made at the Maspalomas desalination plant in Gran Canaria. The feasibility study focused on applying Venturi effect ejectors in brine discharges versus conventional diffusers as a mechanism to improve the dilution processes at acceptable costs for new and existing plants. DHI contributed by developing and applying numerical models for the study of the brine dispersion, including a MIKE 3 model to simulate the brine plume far field, which was calibrated using measurements from several monitoring surveys.

The results showed that Venturi ejector demanded high exit velocities at the nozzle entrance, in the order of 11m/s, to allow the required pressure difference to generate the draw effect. At this velocity range a dilution of 39 was generated, versus 27 reached by conventional diffusers. The high exit velocities at the entrance of the ejector decrease significantly once the jet is inside the nozzle, resulting in no impact on the receiving waters.

The higher efficiency of the Venturi ejector made it possible to reduce the impact on the Cymodocea nodosa marine pastures (a species of sea grass) existing in the outfall surroundings. The results of this study pave the way for many new cost-effective solutions to both new and existing desalination plants, in the Canary Islands and worldwide.

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DHI Brazil was recently requested to perform an oil dispersion modelling to support the development of an emergency plan for a port terminal in Guanabara Bay in Rio de Janeiro.

As part of the emergency plan, an analysis of the effects of oil pollution incidents on the safety of life and the environment was performed, taking into account the sensitivity of the areas likely to be affected and the possibility of occurrence. The determination of these exposed areas was conducted through mathematical modelling. Thus, the hydrodynamic and oil dispersion modules of the modelling system MIKE by DHI were used to simulate different scenarios of accidental oil spills within the bay.

Based on the results of the numerical modelling study, it was possible to plan contingency operations in case of oil incidents in the terminal. Although this study has supported the development of a single emergency plan, the possibility of combining different types of oil, origin, and characteristics of the spill and metocean conditions allows the terminal operator to plan actions for all situations.

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The Falmouth Terminal on the north shore of Jamaica is used by thousands of cruise line passengers each year, but the extreme hurricane events that occur in the region each year pose a flood risk of the terminal buildings. DHI performed comprehensive research and modelling to evaluate the best way to protect the cruise terminal buildings, even during extreme hurricane events in a highly complex bathymetric setting. For this purpose MIKE 21 PMS (Parabolic mild-slope) and MIKE 21 BW (Boussinesq Wave) was used to reproduce the energy dissipation due to wave breaking as well as the wave refraction and wave diffraction.

The Umbrella-DOUT initiative is a net of seven interconnected projects that aim at analysing how uncertainty is being tackled in wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) design.

Design guidelines (Metcalf & Eddy, ATV, Grady, etc.) and safety factors are generally used to develop designs that ensure some effluent requirements (average ammonium below 3 mg/l; total nitrogen below 18 mg/l, etc.).

The discretisation of point sources (like well boundary conditions) in discretised numerical model is a critical requirement if an accurate drawdown needs to be calculated. At point-type boundary conditions (such as wells or solitary fixed potentials), the element size has a direct influence on the computed drawdown or flux. If being disregarded, the result might vary by up to orders of magnitude.

As FEFLOW uses a flexible meshing technology, the user is able to adapt the element size near wells and other point sources to the necessary discretisation. This ideal node distance depends on the radius of the well in reality and the number of neighbour nodes. To facilitate the calculation and implementation of this distance, multilayer wells and borehole heat exchangers have been equipped with special viewing styles that guide the user on how to adapt the mesh to its ideal shape.

The figures illustrate the easiness of the workflow. First, a mesh is created (e.g. using the triangle method) with an approximated node distance (6 x well radius). Afterwards, a multilayer well is created. The viewing style “ideal element size” displays a circle indicating the ideal distance of the neighbouring nodes. After manually placing the nodes on this circle, the area indicated by the “geometry“-style (well radius in reality) will be matched by the “virtual well radius” (equivalent well radius in the discretised model).

These and many new features are already available in the FEFLOW 6.1 public beta.

3rd International FEFLOW Conference in Berlin, Germany
3-7 September 2012

Building on the success of the previous FEFLOW user conferences, FEFLOW 2012 will feature numerous opportunities for exchanging ideas and improving modelling skills. Highlights include keynote presentations, user presentations, product updates, opportunities to meet with DHI-WASY partners and FEFLOW users worldwide, software demonstrations, training courses, and workshops.

For further information and registration, please go to the Conference website (in English)

Annual User Group Meeting in Lucerne, Switzerland
11 September 2012

The user group meeting will include a combination of presentations of new software features and technologies, as well as practical case studies presented by Swiss users.

For further information and registration, please contact Heike Stoschek, DHI-WASY, Germany

Workshop 'A Guide to the Functionalities in the Mesh Generator' at DHI in Hørsholm, Denmark
11 September 2012

At this workshop, you will get information about the functionalities available within the Mesh Generator for creating and/or modifying a mesh bathymetry as well as discuss cases of the optimal choice of model domain and resolution of the mesh!

The workshop is free of charge and takes place at DHI Head Office in Hørsholm, Denmark, in the afternoon of 11 September (13:00-16:00). It will be conducted in English. Hands-on (computer) exercises are not included in the workshop. Deadline for registration: Monday 3 September 2012.

The training course `MIKE 21/3 FLOW MODEL FM - Hydrodynamic modelling using flexible mesh´ is arranged in continuation of the workshop (12 September-13 September). Deadline for registration for training course: Wednesday 22 August 2012.

For further information and registration, please go to the Mesh Generator workshop website (in English)

From 14-18 July 2012, The 10th International Conference on Hydroinformatics (HIC) takes place in Hamburg in Germany. At the conference you can meet DHI experts at the session on Saturday 14 July between 13:30-15:30.

For more information, please visit the conference website.

XI Congreso Lat. Hidrogeologia 2012 (12th Latin American Hydrogeological Congress.)
20-24 August, 2012, Cartagena de Indias, Columbia
For more information, click here.

On 12-13 June 2012, the Danish MIKE by DHI user group meeting was held with great success at the hotel and conference centre Rungstedgaard in the northern Copenhagen area. Approximately 50 users attended the two-day meeting, which provided opportunities for networking, discussions, and sharing of experiences.

This year’s meeting had various interesting topics on the agenda. Day one offered a combination of user presentations of projects from Denmark, Turkey, France, and Jamaica. Day two offered ‘News & Views’ about the upcoming software features of Release 2012 within: Coast & Sea, Water Resources, and Cities, and in the afternoon, an introductory Agent Based Modelling workshop as well as an informative seminar on climate adaptation concluded the two informative days.

Click here for more information.

On 11 June 2012, DHI China successfully started a five-day MIKE 11 training course, which was held in Starway Shuanglu Mansion Hotel in Tianjin. The course attracted more than 50 participants and included three days of basic training in primarily MIKE 11 NAM and HD & SO. On the following two days, the participants were divided into a Flood class, Water Quality Class, and Water Resources class with more detailed lectures.

Click here for more information about the training course.

On 5-8 June 2012, DHI’s agent in Russia, Volga Ltd, attended the International Water Forum Ecwatech 2012 in The Crocus-Expo Centre in Moscow in Russia. Ecwatech is an exhibition and water forum focused on water, ecology, and technology, and is the largest exhibition in Eastern Europe with 15000 visitors as well as companies attending from more than 30 countries. This year the DHI/Volga Ltd booth was visited by more than 600 guests with an interest in MIKE by DHI software products. Here they got an opportunity to hear more about the software.

For further information about the exhibition or the use of MIKE by DHI software in Russia, please contact Volga Ltd, Moscow, Russia.