Design, Construction, and Initial Operation of the Los Alamos National Laboratory Salt-Gradient Solar Pond

Abstract

This paper discusses the design, construction, and initial operation of the solar pond at Los Alamos National Laboratory. This 232 m2 pond is the third facet of a threefold approach to the study of hydrodynamic effects in double diffusive systems, such as solar ponds. The first two facets are flow visualization experiments and one-dimensional laboratory tank tests [1]. Data from these experiments, in addition to other data from the literature, are used to validate the one-dimensional dynamic performance pond model developed by one of the authors [2]. Our particular interest is the boundary-layer structure at the interfaces between the convecting and nonconvecting zones, interaction between the zones, and surface zone effects including diurnal heating effects and wind-induced turbulence. A pond, such as the one this paper describes, provides possible insight into several pond physical processes that may not occur in smaller-scale laboratory experiments due to edge effects, or may be impossible to simulate.