Modeling impacts of highly regulated inflow on thermal regime and water age in a shallow reservoir

Thermal regime and transport of dissolved pollutants, strongly related to water quality and algae bloom in reservoirs, may be quantized by indicators of water temperature and water age, respectively, and these indicators are more spatially and temporally variant in shallow reservoirs. Here, a two-dimensional model was used for studying characteristics of the indicators in Douhe Reservoir, based on data of the year 2008. Douhe Reservoir is a typical shallow reservoir in Northern China, characterized by highly regulated inflow and thermal effluent. The impacts of the regulated inflow on reservoir thermal regime and water age were then analyzed through numerical experiments. The results show that the effects of inflow are associated with the flow circulations induced by inflow, thermal effluent, and wind. The most efficient inflows for alleviating thermal pollution and improving water exchange are 32.5 and 19.5 m³/s, respectively. A positive logarithmic correlation is found between water temperature and water age under the impact of inflow, while thermal effluent and wind have a slightly negative effect on the correlation. These findings provide useful information for better understanding the complex hydrodynamic and mass transport processes in a shallow reservoir.