RAPID SIZING AND PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF SUBMARINE OUTFALLS WITH LINE DIFFUSERS

Based on limited available data, engineers are often called upon to pr epare preliminary designs of new outfalls or to screen the performance of existing ones in the context of developing rational management sch emes for urban and/or industrial effluents. in view of this need, our objective is to develop a simplified procedure, able to provide guidan ce with minimal field information and capable of utilizing any relevan t marine survey data that may exist for enhancing the accuracy of pred ictions. For achieving the previous objective, the relations for all t hree dilution mechanisms are considered simultaneously, so as to have their combined impact analyzed. A set of baseline conditions is define d by assigning typical and typical-adverse values to selected input va riables. Sensitivity analysis is performed, helping to further simplif y the problem. The simplified model is analyzed in terms of its functi onal dependencies, and nomograms are developed, offering a convenient solution of the baseline problem. This baseline solution is easily ada pted to local conditions through a correction multiplier factor comput ed on the basis of actual marine survey data that may exist.