Hydrodynamic modelling of large-scale cooling water outfalls with a dynamically coupled near-field-far-field modelling system

A dynamically coupled near-field-far-field modelling system was developed in previous research by coupling CORMIX to Delft3D-FLOW, which showed that the dynamic coupling of the two models in combination with the distributed entrainment sinks approach, results in a more accurate representation of the physical processes over different scales associated with outfalls. In this paper, the dynamically coupled models were further developed and applied in an engineering project to study the effects of multiple large-scale cooling water outfalls. Furthermore, this modelling approach was validated against near-field measurements around an operating large-scale outfall at the project site. The validation of the coupled modelling system shows that this modelling approach is able to reproduce the physical phenomena of the outfall very well in contrast to the traditional modelling approach. This improved modelling approach led to more accurate and less conservative predictions of the environmental impacts of the outfall and a safer prediction of the design parameters of the intake and outfall configuration.