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Contribution to Book
Alternative loading functions in the MSB pollution flushing model
Transactions on Ecology and the Environment: Environmental Problems in Coastal Regions VI (2006)
  • Stephen J. Mecca, Providence College
  • Robert W. Barber
  • J. Tombarello
Abstract

The MSB model of pollution flushing from a tidal basin, which is based on the analytical tidal prism model developed by Barber, has been applied to embayments with non-constant bathymetry and constant pollution loading. This paper extends the versatility of the MSB model by including alternative pollution loading functions. The model, written in Stella (Stella is a software product and trademark of High Performance Systems, Inc. Hanover, NH 03755 USA), can use both the internal functions of Stella as well as a user-defined functional representation that is part of the Stella toolset. The morphology of a pulse function applied at different times throughout the tidal cycle is studied. Results of these simulations are applied to answer a hypothetical yet useful question: if a certain mass of pollutant must be loaded into a tidal embayment, when should this loading be applied to minimize the time for the concentration to ‘relax’ to a certain critical level? These results and the multiple possibilities for extending the MSB model are explored.

Disciplines
Publication Date
2006
Editor
C.A. Brebbia
Publisher
WIT Press
Citation Information
Stephen J. Mecca, Robert W. Barber and J. Tombarello. "Alternative loading functions in the MSB pollution flushing model" SouthhamptonTransactions on Ecology and the Environment: Environmental Problems in Coastal Regions VI Vol. 88 (2006)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/stephen_mecca/15/