Characterization of wind effect on environmental dispersion for a shallow wetland flow

Abstract

The present work focuses on the dispersion of pollutants under the influence of wind and ecological degradation in a fully developed steady flow for a shallow wetland. The dispersion coefficient is determined by Aris’ method of moments and Meis’ multi-scale analysis. Based on the comparison study, the concentration profiles obtained using multi-scale analysis converge with Aris’ method of moments, indicating that both analytical approaches provide reliable and consistent descriptions of pollutant dispersion in the system. In first-order degradation reaction rates, high degradation rates lead to lower mean concentrations and potentially more pronounced concentration gradients, while low degradation rates result in higher mean concentrations. The critical length of the region influenced by the contaminated cloud is computed analytically. It shows that for the common contaminant constituent lead (Pb), initially, it increases gradually to reach the maximum; after that as time increases, it decreases to zero under wind conditions.