Environmental protection through mathematical modeling: dynamic simulation of dissolved oxygen in water reservoirs

Abstract

Population points and industries create pollution pressure over water bodies that affect their quality: BOD depletes dissolved oxygen, which negatively impacts water and surface fauna. As per its formation in the fields of thermodynamics, chemical kinetics and fluid mechanics, the chemical engineer has the advantage of being capable to address environmental protection problems as systems of functionally interconnected variables. The result of this approach are mathematical models, which serve as objective tools in devising environmental policies and remediation strategies. This paper presents an application of remote sensing, and CFD modeling techniques to obtain a dynamic mathematical model of the dissolved oxygen concentration. The object of research is the Cerrón Grande. The resulting mathematical model was delivered to the Ministry of the Environment to be used as tool for further development of remediation strategies.