Simulation of the thermal regime of a drinking water reservoir under projected climate change conditions
The potential impact on the thermal regime was assessed using Vrchlice Reservoir as a case study. The model was calibrated for 2023 using detailed measurements of vertical water temperature profiles at selected monitoring sites provided by the Elbe River Water Authority; subsequent verification was carried out for 2022. To compare the affected thermal regime with the current state, 2018 was selected as the reference year. The observed daily air temperature series for 2018 was transformed using the Advanced Delta Change (ADC) method to reflect changes derived from climate models for the 2050 and 2085 horizons. The scenario calculations presented in this article isolate the effect of changes in air temperature, while other meteorological and hydrological-operational inputs are kept at their 2018 reference levels.
Influence of retention curve parameter α on capillary barrier efficiency
This study is focused on the calculation of parameter α of the wetting branch of the retention curve and on the influence of its value on the efficiency of capillary barriers. The capillary barrier is a simple method of insulating landfills. The effectiveness of the capillary barriers was tested using numerical models, which allow greater testing variability compared to physical measurement. Thanks to numerical models, it was possible to evaluate the direct effect of changing the parameters of retention curves on the functioning of capillary barriers. Hysteresis of retention curves was included in the construction of the numerical models, and then its effect on the agreement of the model results with the measured data was evaluated. Numerical modelling is a suitable and reliable tool for verifying the efficiency of capillary barriers. Due to the sensitivity of the results to the parameters of the task, it is necessary to determine as precisely as possible all the necessary input parameters so that the resulting model has real informative value.