AvH Ping Wang

Forschungskostenzuschuss für Alexander-von-Humboldt Stipendium von Dr. Ping Wang

01/03/2020 to 28/02/2021

Transient storage in quasi stagnant water bodies plays a central role in contaminant transport in rivers and streams, and quantifying it is of great scientific significance and engineering value. With the increasing probability of low flow events due to climate change, rough bathymetry exerts greater influence on river transport and transient storage than before. Previous studies on stream transport with transient storage were confined to standard 1-D mobile-immobile transport models with coefficients fitted by tracer tests, which can hardly be transferred to the same reach with different
discharge or even other stream reaches. The present project aims to model river transport subject to transient storage in streams with rough bathymetry under low-flow conditions through both theoretical and numerical studies. The project will numerically simulate 2-D surface flow and 3-D subsurface flow and associated solute transport by HydroGeoSphere with realistic rough bathymetry, mimicking the situation at River Steinlach in Tübingen, Southwest Germany. I will investigate the surface runoff generation process, surface flow networks and surface-subsurface exchange, and study the flow
trajectories and residence time distributions by particle tracking. Subsequently, I will develop an effective 1-D transient storage model with coefficients valid for all river stages, and quantify the coefficients with easy-to-measure metrics of the river. The anticipated results will address the mechanisms behind stage-dependent river dispersion, surface transient storage, and hyporheic
exchange and can provide directions for river restoration and management.