Modelling of bubble plume destratification using DYRESM

North Pine Dam in Queensland, like other Australian reservoirs, stratifies in summer. Thermal stratification prevents the vertical transfer of heat and oxygen and deteriorates the water quality. Since North Pine Dam is a source of drinking water supply, bubble plume destratification system was chosen to counter the effects of stratification. A numerical model called Destrat was used to design a bubble plume system which destratifies the strongest observed stratification in the reservoir within 3 weeks. Field observations, however, showed that the destratification of North Pine Dam occurred slower than predicted by Destrat. Therefore, Destrat was modified for future applications by including the effect of solar radiation as a source of stratification. The Dynamic Reservoir Simulation Model (DYRESM) was then run to model the destratification of North Pine Dam. The results of this simulation were not in agreement with the field data as DYRESM overestimated the destratification caused by the bubble plume. A comparison of the field and simulated results indicated that the volume of water entrained by bubble plume in the DYRESM is overestimated. Reducing the entrainment coefficient of air bubbles produced a closer agreement between the field data and the simulation results.