Reaeration in Supercritical Open Channel Flows: An Experimental Study

Reaeration is a primary path of reoxygenation in streams, fundamental to environmental and ecological integrity. Previous laboratory studies of reaeration rates in subcritical flows showed large scatter in results, with differences in mass transfer coefficients of more than one order of magnitude between comparable flow conditions. Although supercritical flow is commonly observed in natural streams and engineered channels, systematic measurements of supercritical flow reaeration rates have been unavailable. Experiments in a laboratory open channel flume encompassing sub- and supercritical flows have been undertaken. The subcritical data were consistent with a large body of previous studies. Supercritical flows showed 6-10 times stronger reaeration rates than comparable subcritical conditions, while local rates at hydraulic jumps systematically exceed those in the supercritical flows upstream by a factor up to three. A close relationship between reaeration rates and turbulent dissipation rate is observed, and a systematic Froude number dependency is demonstrated for both sub- and supercritical flows. Observed mass transfer coefficients do not correlate as well with flow Reynolds number and shear Reynolds number. The higher reaeration rates associated with supercritical flows indicates that a change in open channel flow regime for the same Reynolds number may be used to improve water quality.