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Numerical modelling is an effective tool complementing in-situ or remote sensing observations of plastic litter from rivers to the ocean. It allows exhaustive simulation of particle dispersal dynamics and fate after their disposal in aquatic environments. Several modeling methods have been proposed. The most commonly used in the literature is based on the Lagrangian framework. It allows to follow individual particle trajectories by time-integration of the flow velocity. The tracking of a large amount of particles is at the cost of a high complexity. Nevertheless, it remains helpful when identifying (macro-) plastics spatial distribution patterns. On the other hand, the Eulerian framework is more efficient to follow the evolution of the number or mass concentrations. Compared to the Lagrangian framework, it is suitable for modelling transport and fate of micro-plastics in large-scale estuarine and marine systems. However, plastic debris are known to exhibit high polydispersity in their sizes, shapes, and densities. Hence, an in-depth study of microplastics distribution patterns in a large domain would require a numerous number of discrete classes, leading to higher model complexity . However, the polydispersity of plastics could be addressed in an effective way by using population balance equations (PBE) to track the evolution of the size distribution. In PBE, the moments of the number density function (NDF) are advected and diffused within the Eulerian framework. Subsequently, the plastic NDF can be recovered from the resulting moments of the distribution. With the three discussed modelling frameworks, we propose to investigate the effects of tidal pumping on the exportation or importation of plastics. These methods will be tested in a schematized estuary including deposition terms. Their performance in terms of computational resources and spatio-temporal dispersal of plastic litter will also be analyzed. Also see: https://micro2022.sciencesconf.org/427122/document, In MICRO 2022, Online Atlas Edition: Plastic Pollution from MACRO to nano

Hydrodynamics

Hydrodynamics

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ispartof: pages:26-34 ispartof: Online proceedings of the papers submitted to the 2020 TELEMAC-MASCARET User Conference pages:26-34 ispartof: 2020 TELEMAC-MASCARET User Conference location:Antwerp (Belgium) / online status: Published online

ispartof: Final Report status: Published online

Hydrodynamics

Title : Volume : Issue : Pagination : 12

The new Coastal and Ocean Basin (COB) located at the Greenbridge Science Park in Ostend, Belgium is under construction since February 2017. The laboratory will provide a versatile facility that will make a wide range of physical modelling studies possible, including the ability to generate waves in combination with currents and wind at a wide range of model scales. The facility is serving the needs in Flanders, Belgium, in the fields of mainly offshore renewable energy and coastal engineering. The COB will allow users to conduct tests for coastal and offshore engineering research and commercial projects. The basin will have state-of-the-art generating and absorbing wavemakers, a current generation system, and a wind generator. It will be possible to generate waves and currents in the same, opposite and oblique directions. The basin is expected to be operational in 2019. This paper presents an overview of the basin’s capabilities, the ongoing work, and selected results from the design of the COB.