Computer-Aided Analysis of Estuarine Dynamics Simulated by a Distributed Parameter Model

A simulation model of water pollution dynamics for computer-aided analysis of water quality along an estuary is developed. The model is based on the analytical solution of the diffusion equation describing the pollution concentration when the vertical and lateral dynamics of the estuary are negligible. The estuary is simulated by a cascade connection of uniform distributed parameter networks which represent estuary segments. Each distributed parameter network is treated as a two-port device whose input-output characteristics in the frequency domain are given by its transmission matrix. An algorithm is given for approximating the two-port parameters to any prescribed accuracy so that the two-port dynamics can be synthesized as an active lumped-parameter electrical network. This network, when used with a computer-aided circuit analysis program, yields the pollution concentration profile along the estuary.