Numerical Simulations and Tracer Studies as a Tool to Support Water Circulation Modeling in Breeding Reservoirs

Abstract The article presents a proposal of a method for computer-aided design and analysis of breeding reservoirs in zoos and aquariums. The method applied involves the use of computer simulations of water circulation in breeding pools. A mathematical model of a pool was developed, and a tracer study was carried out. A simplified model of two-dimensional flow in the form of a biharmonic equation for the stream function (converted into components of the velocity vector) was adopted to describe the flow field. This equation, supplemented by appropriate boundary conditions, was solved numerically by the finite difference method. Next, a tracer migration equation was solved, which was a two-dimensional advection-dispersion equation describing the unsteady transport of a non-active, permanent solute. In order to obtain a proper solution, a tracer study (with rhodamine WT as a tracer) was conducted in situ. The results of these measurements were compared with numerical solutions obtained. The results of numerical simulations made it possible to reconstruct water circulation in the breading pool and to identify still water zones, where water circulation was impeded.