Location Victoria, Australia Type of Project Numerical Modeling

Victoria Desalinization Modeling and Fieldwork
Location
Victoria, Australia
Type of Project
Numerical Modeling, Fieldwork
Client
GHD, Australia
Victoria
Clockwise from lower left: South-East Australia (SEA) Model grid; the nested model grid; and the local
area model grid. (Lower right) Output from the fine-resolution3-dimensional fully stratified simulation
including freshwater river discharge in the vicinity of the Desalinization Plant.
Project Overview – ASR worked collaboratively with GHD, a global engineering firm, to
undertake an extensive series of fieldwork and modeling studies to understand the natural forces
associated with the planning of the southern hemisphere’s largest desalinization plant. As a
component of this five billion-dollar development, ASR developed a series of models using
sequential nests to accurately simulate both large-scale dynamics and fine scale features at the
project study site. ASR also designed and deployed a field instrumentation system capable of
withstanding the harsh environment of Bass Strait including gale force winds and swells in excess
of 10 m while collecting data such as wave heights, current speeds, water temperatures, turbidity
and salinity.
Project Outcomes – To simulate the region around Bass Strait and Tasmania, the South-East
Australia (SEA) model used a 1-minute (~1 -2 km) cell size model grid to generate tidal and nontidal currents and sea level variations for subsequent nesting into the more detailed Bass and Bays
nested model. The Bass and Bays model used 800 m grid spacing and described the dynamics of
northern Bass Strait, Port Phillip Bay and Western Port with a fully-stratified 3-dimensional
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Victoria Desalinization Modeling and Fieldwork
model which included atmospheric heat-exchange and was also coupled to a dynamic catchment
model that provided flow and loading information for 52 rivers and drains in the region. Finally,
for detailed simulations at the study area, a local area grid was used. This grid was developed
from high-resolution bathymetry and topography data. The local area model had the capability to
resolve the fully stratified 3-dimensional dynamics under a variety of hypothetical scenarios
including brine discharge, larval and sediment transport, extreme water levels and other critical
areas of concern for the desalinization plant planned operation.
Results from these extensive fieldwork and modeling studies were applied to optimize the design
of the desalinization plant’s outfall. Ultimately, this project was responsible for reducing the
plant’s environmental impact while generating more than 400 million liters of fresh drinking
water per day to supply Victoria’s drought stricken population.
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