Development of the Long-Term Morphodynamic Model to Determine the Seawater Intake Location

Abstract

Seawater intake structures are often used at coastal power plant to draw ambient seawater into the cooling system for operation. However, improper selection of water intake location will lead to sediments deposition at the intake structure causing lower intake flow rate, clogging of water filtration devices and reduces the efficiency of the power plant. A 2D process-based model is developed to investigate the morphodynamic behavior of the Kapar coast. The model is developed by coupling the processes of hydrodynamic, waves and sediment transport. The processes are interacted dynamically with bathymetry and lead to the morphological changes. The model is input with the schematisation of seasonal wind-wave conditions and a representative morphological tide. Morphological acceleration technique is used to simulate the long-term morphodynamic changes with acceptable computational times. Sedimentation and erosion patterns are represented by the model and suitable intake location is determined based on the long-term morphodynamic investigation.