Date of Award

12-2015

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Ocean Engineering and Marine Sciences

First Advisor

R. J. Weaver

Second Advisor

S. Lazarus

Third Advisor

T. Waite

Fourth Advisor

M. R. Archambault

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to determine the extent to which constructing a low crested weir adjacent to Port Canaveral improves ushing in the Banana River. The Banana River is a 50 km long sub-basin of Indian River Lagoon (IRL), located between Cape Canaveral and Merritt Island in Brevard County. Although Port Canaveral locks connect the Banana River to the ocean, the locks remain closed when there are no passing vessels; therefore, it has limited circulation and a long ushing time. Declining water quality can be linked to recent high mortality events of di erent species living in the lagoon ecosystem, i.e. dolphins, manatees and pelicans. The ADCIRC hydrodynamic model coupled with a Lagrangian Particle Tracking Model (LPTM) is applied to the IRL basin to simulate hydrodynamic properties of the study area and determine the 2D depth-averaged velocity eld. Simulations are run, rst to establish the baseline hydrodynamics of the unmodi ed system, and then to predict the hydrodynamics of a system that includes a weir connecting the Banana River to the Port Canaveral basin. Passive particles are placed in the Banana River portion of the domain, and their movement is tracked using LPTM. Flushing and residence times are computed. The results indicate an improvement in ushing in both the Banana River and the central IRL, caused by an induced southerly current from the installation of the proposed weir.

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