Huaming Yu

Estimation of Annual Energy Output from BCM Tidal Barrage and the Corresponding Marine Environmental Impact

Based on the finite-volume coastal ocean model (FVCOM), a three-dimensional numerical model FVCOM was built to simulate the ocean dynamics in pre-dam and post-dam conditions in Bachimen (BCM). The domain decomposition method, which is effective in describing the conservation of volume and non-conservation of mechanical energy in the utilization of tidal energy, was employed to estimate the theoretical tidal energy resources and developable energy resources, and to analyze the hydrodynamic effect of the tidal power station. This innovative approach has the advantage of linking physical oceanography with engineering problems. The results indicate that the theoretical annual tidal energy resources is about 2×108 kWh under the influence of tidal power station; Optimized power installation is confirmed according to power generation curve from numerical analysis; the developable resources is about 38.2% of theoretical tidal energy resources with the employment of one-way electricity generation. The electricity generation time and power are 3479 hours and 2.55×104 KW, respectively. The power station has no effect on the tide pattern which is semi-diurnal tide in both two conditions, but the amplitudes of main constituents apparently decrease in the area near the dam, with the M2 decreasing the most, about 62.92 cm. The tidal prism shrinks to 2.28×107 m3, but can still meet the flow requirement for tidal power generation. The existence of station increases the flow rate along the waterway and enhances the residual current. There are two opposite vortexes formed on the east side beside the dam of the station, which leads to pollutants gathering.

A numerical study on the circulation and tide in a zigzag bay

The Shacheng Bay (SCB) is one of the most complex coastal bays in southeast China and due to the fact of complicated geometry and dynamic coastal processes, it is considered as a challenging area for the numerical simulation of its hydrodynamic characteristics. The most advanced finite volume ocean model, finite-volume coastal ocean model (FVCOM), has adopted to simulate this hydrodynamic system, where tidal currents, tidal residual current and dye diffusion processes were studied and analyzed quantitatively. The validation of this numerical model matches well with various observation data, including elevation and current data. The misfit of a tidal elevation has a relative standard error of 3.66% and 4.67% for M2 and S2 tide components. The current validation shows a good match with an average error of 10 cm/s and 8° in the speed major axis and its direction respectively between the simulation and the measurement. This proves the robustness and reliability of this model. It is also found that the cape effect is significant and important in this system. The dye diffusion simulations show a 53 d flushing period for the whole inner bay waterbody. The results are of its first kind for understanding the hydrodynamic system in the SCB and they can provide helpful and trustful scientific information for others.

New Unstructured Mesh Water Quality Model for Cooling Water Biocide Discharges

A new unstructured mesh coastal water and air quality model has been developed that includes species transport, nonlinear decay, by-product formation, and mass-exchange between sea and atmosphere. The model has been programmed with a graphical user interface and is applicable to coastal seawater, lakes, and rivers. Focused on species conversion and interaction with the atmosphere, the water and air quality model follows a modular approach. It is a compatible module which simulates distributions based on fluid dynamic field data of underlying existing hydrodynamic and atmospheric simulations. Nonlinear and spline approximations of decay and growth kinetics, by-product formation, and joint sea–atmosphere simulation have been embedded. The Windows application software includes functions allowing error analysis concerning mesh and finite volume approximation. In this work, a submerged residual chlorine cooling water discharge and halogenated matter by-product formation has been simulated. An error analysis has been carried out by varying vertical meshing, time-steps and comparing results based on explicit and implicit finite volume approximation. The new model has been named 3D Simulation for Marine and Atmospheric Reactive Transport, in short 3D SMART.

Modeling assessment of tidal current energy in the Qiongzhou Strait, China

In the present study, an existing three-dimensional finite volume computational ocean model (FVCOM) was refined and configured including an algorithm for computing the power density and mean power density at Qiongzhou Strait of China. The refined model was validated with the measured tidal levels and tidal currents at different gauging stations. The model results are in reasonable agreement with the measured data. Based on the modeling results, we assess the resource of the tidal stream energy in the Qiongzhou Strait and discuss the temporal and the spatial distribution of the tidal current energy there. The conclusion is extracted: the higher power density occurs in the middle area of the strait, and lower at both sides. Characteristics of power density such as the maximum possibility speed, maximum power density during the spring tide period and the neap tide period, have the similar distribution. The southeast part and central area of the strait are of rich tidal current energy, where the maximum possibility speed can reach to 4.6 m/s, and the maximum power density of the spring tide period and the neap tide period can reach 5 996 and 467 W/m2 separately in the surface layer The annual mean power density can reach 819 W/m2. Statistical length of accumulative time of the velocity exceeding 0.7 m/s is about 4 717 h at local point during a year. The total theoretical tidal current energy resource is approximately 189.55 MW and the available exploited energy on present technology condition is 249, 20.2 and 263 GW/a separately by using the methods FLUX, FARM and GC in the Qiongzhou Strait.

Short communication: New unstructured mesh water quality model for coastal discharges

A new unstructured mesh coastal water and air quality model has been developed that includes species transport, nonlinear decay, byproduct formation and mass-exchange between sea and atmosphere. The model has been programmed with a graphical interface and is applicable to coastal seawater, lakes and rivers. Focused on species conversion and interaction with the atmosphere, the water and air quality model follows a modular approach. It is a compatible module which simulates distributions based on fluid dynamic field data of underlying existing hydrodynamic and atmospheric simulations. Nonlinear and spline approximations of decay and growth kinetics, byproduct formation and joint sea-atmosphere simulation have been embedded. The Windows application software includes functions allowing error analysis concerning mesh and finite volume approximation. In this work, an anoxic submerged process-water discharge has been simulated. An error analysis has been carried out by varying vertical meshing, time-steps and comparing results based on explicit and implicit finite volume approximation.

Assessment of tidal range energy resources based on flux conservation in Jiantiao Bay, China

La Rance Tidal Range Power Station in France and Jiangxia Tidal Range Power Station in China have been both long-term successful commercialized operations as kind of role models for public at large for more than 40 years. The Sihwa Lake Tidal Range Power Station in South Korea has also developed to be the largest marine renewable power station with its installed capacity 254 MW since 2010. These practical applications prove that the tidal range energy as one kind of marine renewable energy exploitation and utilization technology is becoming more and more mature and it is used more and more widely. However, the assessment of the tidal range energy resources is not well developed nowadays. This paper summarizes the main problems in tidal range power resource assessment, gives a brief introduction to tidal potential energy theory, and then we present an analyzed and estimated method based on the tide numerical modeling. The technical characteristics and applicability of these two approaches are compared with each other. Furthermore, based on the theory of tidal range energy generation combined with flux conservation, this paper proposes a new assessment method that include a series of evaluation parameters and it can be easily operated to calculate the tidal range energy of the sea. Finally, this method is applied on assessment of the tidal range power energy of the Jiantiao Harbor in Zhejiang Province, China for demonstration and examination.

Tidal characteristics in the Wenzhou offshore waters and changes resulting from the Wenzhou Shoal Reclamation Project

The Wenzhou Shoal Reclamation Project is the core part of Wenzhou Peninsula Engineering which is a big comprehensive development project to expand the city space. The dynamics of the surrounding area was proved to suffer little effect in response to the Lingni north dyke since it was built approximately along the current direction. Therefore, this paper focuses firstly on the tidal characteristics in the Wenzhou and Yueqing bays with the Lingni north dyke being built and then on the changes resulting from the implementation of the on-going Wenzhou Shoal Reclamation Project (WSRP) which will reclaim land from the whole Wenzhou Shoal. To simulate the tidal dynamics, a high-resolution coastal ocean model with unstructured triangular grids was set up for the Wenzhou and Yueqing Bays. The model resolved the complicated tidal dynamics with the simulated tidal elevation and current in good agreement with observations. In the study area, M2 is the predominant tidal component, which means the tide is semidiurnal. The new reclamation project hardly affects the Yueqing Bay and the open ocean, but there are concentrated effects on the mouth of the southern branch of the Oujiang River and the southwest of Wenzhou Shoal. This study provides an indicative reference to the local government and helps to weigh the advantages and disadvantages of the project.

Initial analysis and assessment of tidal current energy resource in the Qiongzhou Strait

FVCOM ocean model is applied to simulate the tidal wave system in the Qiongzhou Strait, and the error between investigation and simulation is acceptable. Based on that result, we assess the tidal energy of Qiongzhou Straits by the method of FLUX, and discuss the temporal and spatial distributions of tidal current energy resource in this area. An conclusion can be extracted like this: there is a higher power density of energy in the central area of this strait, relatively, lower on both sides; characteristic symbols of power density of energy such as most possibility speed, maximal density of.