Simultaneous LIF and PIV Measurements of a Laboratory Modeled Coastal Plume

A new open-channel experimental facility has been built specifically for the study of coastal plumes. The research perspective is to investigate the physics from the point of view of the identification of contaminant source location. We present the preliminary results of a plume generated by a bottom-mounted source in the presence of lateral meanders. The measurements are made using a single camera simultaneous particle image velocimetry (PIV) – laser induced fluorescence (LIF) technique. The plume was released into a developing boundary layer, which it rapidly mixed across in the vertical; hence the majority of the plume growth was in the lateral direction. The lateral growth rate of the characteristic plume width was determined to be linearly proportional to the downstream distance, x. This somewhat surprising result is discussed.