MSG 427 Mathematical Modelling

S.Y. Teh

SCHOOL OF MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES

TUTORIAL 2

1. Consider an initial chemical concentration of C0 kg m 3 in a lake. The chemical in the

lake decays at the rate of  per day ( d 1 ). Here, the units used are kg for kilogram, d
for day and m for meter.
(a) Formulate a first order differential equation to express the rate of change of the
chemical concentration C in the lake over time t. Note that the unit of
concentration C is kg m 3 and time t is day.
(b) Solve the differential equation formulated in (a) to obtain the particular solution,
i.e. the chemical concentration in the lake, based upon the given initial condition
C  0   C0 . Sketch the graph of the chemical concentration C  t  as time t  .

(c) Now, assume that there is a continuous discharge of the chemical into the lake at
the rate of W kg m 3 d 1. Rewrite the differential equation formulated in (a) by
adding the continuous discharge W to the differential equation in (a) and solve the
revised differential equation. If   0.5 d 1 , C0  10 kg m 3 and W 2

kg m 3 d 1 , sketch the graph of the chemical concentration as time t  .

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 MSG 427 Mathematical Modelling
S.Y. Teh

2. You are studying a 3-km stretch of stream that is about 35 m wide. A gauging station on
the stream provides you with an estimate that the average flow rate during your study
was 3 cubic meters per seconds (cms). You toss a float into the stream and observe that
it takes about 2 hr to traverse the stretch. Calculate the average velocity (mps), cross-
sectional area (m2) and depth (m) for the stretch. To make these estimates, assume that
the stretch can be idealized as a rectangular channel (Figure 1).

L
Figure 1. A stream stretch idealized as a rectangular channel: L = length, B = width and
H = mean depth.

3. A pond having constant volume and no outlet has a surface area As of 104 m2 and a mean
depth H of 2 m. It initially has a concentration of 0.8 ppm. Two days later a
measurement indicates that the concentration has risen to 1.5 ppm.
(a) What was the mass loading rate during this time?
(b) If you hypothesize that the only possible source of this pollutant was from the
atmosphere, estimate the flux that occurred.

4. Each individual in a city of 100, 000 people contributes about 650 L capita-1 d-1 of
wastewater and 135 g capita-1 d-1 of biochemical oxygen demand (BOD).
(a) Determine the flow rate (m3 s-1) and the mass loading rate of BOD in metric tonne
per annum (mta) generated by such a population. Note that one metric tonne is equal
to 1000 kg.
(b) Determine the BOD concentration of the wastewater (mg L-1).

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 MSG 427 Mathematical Modelling
S.Y. Teh

5. Lake Ontario in the early 1970s had a total phosphorus loading of approximately 10, 500
mta (metric tonnes per annum, where a metric tonne equals 1000 kg) and an in-lake
concentration of 21 g/L. In 1973, the state of New York and the province of Ontario
ordered a reduction of detergent phosphate content. This action reduced loadings to
8000 mta.
(a) Compute the assimilation factor for Lake Ontario.
(b) What in-lake concentration would result from the detergent phosphate reduction
action?
(c) If the water quality objective is to bring in-lake levels down to 10 g/L, how much
additional load reduction is needed?

6. In the early 1970s, Lake Michigan had a total phosphorus loading of 6950 mta and an
in-lake concentration of 8 g L-1.
(a) Determine the lake’s assimilation factor (km3 yr-1).
(b) What loading rate would be required to bring in-lake levels down to approximately 5
g L-1?
(c) Express the results of (b) as a percent reduction, where
Wpresent  Wfuture
% reduction   100 %
Wpresent

7. During warm periods, some lakes become thermally stratified. You measure total
phosphorus concentration in the hypolimnion and find the concentration increases from
20 g L-1 to 100 g L-1 over a 1-month period. If the bottom area is 1 km2 and the
average depth of the hypolimnion is 5 m, calculate the sediment flux of phosphorus
needed to cause the observation. Express your results in mg m-2 d-1. In your calculation,
assume that the thermocline forms an impermeable barrier between the upper and lower
layers.

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