Dispersion of pollutants in rivers

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Abstract
The problem under consideration is the mixing of conservative, nonbuoyant pollutants released into a river. Such pollutants are mixed with the water of a river by different mechanisms, i.e. molecular diffusion, turbulent diffusion, advection and dispersion. These mechanisms are explained. One of the most important is dispersion, which is derived and described in the paper. The mixing process in rivers is represented by the advection-dispersion equation. Analysing this process in irregular rivers is usually impossible because of the lateral advection term in the dispersion equation. However, this term disappears in a special curvilinear coordinate system. Such a system is introduced and a method of solution of the dispersion equation is presented. Two examples of the simulation of a mixing process in curvilinear channels are given.

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