Plume design charts — translating plume models into practical diffuser airflow, depth and spacing for a target circulation.
Bubble-Plume Modelling — in depth
Models become design through charts. We translate the predicted entrainment and circulation into practical numbers: the airflow per diffuser, the diffuser depth, and the spacing needed to achieve a target whole-lake circulation rate and oxygen coverage — the figures that actually get installed.
What matters in practice
Air rate to drive the plume.
Depth sets plume strength.
Coverage across the lake.
Design circulation rate met.
| Variable | Sets | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Airflow | Plume strength | Per diffuser |
| Depth | Buoyancy | Deeper = stronger |
| Spacing | Coverage | Array |
| Number | Total flow | Capacity |
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Read MoreReynolds & Bauhm designs and delivers bubble-plume modelling solutions backed by process engineering and performance guarantees.
Fundamentals, design drivers and practical guidance
Plume design charts — translating plume models into practical diffuser airflow, depth and spacing for a target circulation.
Sizing is an oxygen-mass-transfer problem. The hypolimnetic oxygen demand sets the duty; transfer efficiency is characterised through SOTR/SOTE and corrected to field conditions with alpha, beta and temperature factors; and device selection — diffused bubble-plume, Speece cone, or partial/full airlift — follows from depth and demand. Bubble-plume behaviour, entrainment and double-plume effects are increasingly resolved with CFD and design charts to place and size diffusers correctly in deep reservoirs.
Reynolds & Bauhm sizes reservoir aeration from measured oxygen demand and transfer fundamentals — selecting destratification or hypolimnetic oxygenation and the right device, with plume and diffuser design proven against the reservoir's depth and stratification.
Reservoir aeration and oxygenation manage the consequences of thermal stratification, where a warm surface layer seals a cold, oxygen-starved hypolimnion beneath a thermocline. Once isolated, the hypolimnion's oxygen is consumed by sediment demand and cannot be replaced from the atmosphere, triggering the release of iron, manganese, ammonia and phosphorus from the bed that degrade raw-water quality — the problem aeration exists to solve.
What our engineers assess on every scope of this type
| Parameter | Typical basis | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Device | Plume / Speece / airlift | Matched to depth and demand |
| Plume | CFD / design charts | Places and sizes diffusers |
| Duty | Hypolimnetic O2 demand | Sets oxygen input required |
| Strategy | Destratify vs hypolimnetic | Mix all vs oxygenate deep only |
| Transfer | SOTR / SOTE | Quantifies device efficiency |
| Correction | Alpha/beta/temp | Field vs clean-water performance |
Common questions on reservoir aeration and oxygenation
Because thermal stratification isolates the cold bottom layer, whose oxygen is then consumed by sediment and not replaced, releasing iron, manganese, ammonia and phosphorus. Plume Design Charts restores oxygen to prevent that release and protect raw-water quality.
Destratification mixes the whole column to break stratification and re-oxygenate the bottom; hypolimnetic aeration adds oxygen to the deep layer while keeping it cold and stratified. The right choice depends on the abstraction regime and objectives.
From the measured hypolimnetic oxygen demand, converted to an oxygen-input requirement using transfer efficiency (SOTR/SOTE) corrected to field conditions with alpha, beta and temperature factors — not a rule of thumb.
Diffused bubble-plume systems, Speece cones and partial- or full-lift airlift designs, selected by reservoir depth and oxygen demand. Plume Design Charts informs which device and diffuser arrangement suits the site.
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