3D Numerical model of the thermal interaction between sediment-water-atmosphere.

VITALE, A.J.; PICCOLO M.C.; GENCHI, S.A.; DELRIEUX, C.; PERILLO G.M.E.

ENVIRONMENTAL MODELING & ASSESSMENT

SPRINGER

Lugar: Berlin; Año: 2014 vol. 20

1420-2026

This paper describes a 3D numerical model of heat flux that employs finite-difference approximation for the simulation, prediction and visualization of sediment, water and air temperature, applied in Villa del Mar saltmarsh, Bahía Blanca Estuary, Argentina. To make this computation, we develop an open-source software tool called Hemera 1.0 which is characterized by having little complexity and low hardware requirements. The model considers three heat transfer processes: diffusion, convection and radiation, using bulk aerodynamic formulas as boundary conditions between the interfaces. The aforementioned model was applied for the month of January 2009. This month was selected because it shows the highest thermal and radiative energy oscillation. The model reproduces adequately the physical processes of the heat balance and showed an adequate response to changes in the boundary conditions. In addition, according to the model design, meteorological and oceanographic data and some soil properties are the only data input used for modeling. It is easily adaptable to other environments such us lakes, lagoons, reservoirs, among others, in order to carry out similar studies.