Modeling the effect of Causeways on Circulation in the Banana River

Abstract:

The Indian River Lagoon (IRL) is a restricted estuary along the east coast of Florida. Although Banana River, a 50 km long sub-basin of IRL, has an outlet to the ocean through the Port Canaveral locks, the locks remain closed when there is no passing vessel. The lack of direct ocean connection results in limited circulation, long flushing time and poor water quality. Existence of the causeways limits the circulation even more. In this study, the impact of the causeways on flushing time is studied. This study also examines the extent to which constructing a low crested weir adjacent to Port Canaveral can improve flushing in this region. ADCIRC 2DDI is forced with meteorological inputs as well as tides to simulate the hydrodynamic properties of the study area and determine the 2D depth-averaged velocity field for four separate cases: Existing System with and without consideration of the causeways, and modified system (adding a weir near port Canaveral) with and without consideration of the causeways. Passive particles are placed in Banana River, and their movement is tracked using a Lagrangian Particle Tracking Model (LPTM). Transport timescales are then computed, and residence time contours as well as pathlines of selected particles are plotted. Results indicate that the narrow raised pathway section of the causeways acts as a plate which diverts the flow direction and generates eddies in the downstream which causes the particles in the vicinity of the causeways remain in the domain for a longer duration. There is a longer residence time for the case in which the causeways are considered. The results with the added weir suggest a noticeable improvement in flushing time and residence time even for the case in which the causeways are considered in the model.