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Here is a report that I forwarded to researchers at the Melaque Mexico outstation of the University of Guadalajara.  Apparently, this is the first numerical flow visualization model that has been made for this interesting and heavily used river estuary.

 

The Reports - Finite Element Analysis ( FEA ) using flexPDE

 

        Tidal Flow through Laguna de Navidad During the Dry Season

               Tidal Flow and River Flow During the Rainy Season

Comments Regarding my River Estuary Tidal Flow for Laguna de Navidad Analysis Work:

For many years I have been visiting and vacationing in and around Melaque, a wonderful Mexican town that is about 150 miles south of Puerto Vallarta.  Melaque and its sister town, Barra de Navidad are located on a beautiful bay, Bahia de Navidad, into which flows several small rivers.  The rivers that flow through "Barra" form a shallow, fresh and salt water lake behind the town, before flowing through a narrow channel and out to sea.

 

Unfortunately, for various reasons, the lake, known as Laguna de Navidad is gradually filling with silt brought down by flooding rivers during seasonal rains.  I decided to see if I could use my fluidic modeling skills to learn about the flow of water during the time when the primary inlet river is flooding.

 

Using satellite imagery I found on the web and depth soundings I extracted from a hotel brochure showing anchoring depths for visiting yachts, I produced a Finite Element Analysis (FEA) that captured many interesting aspects of river and tidal flow through the lake-like estuary called Laguna de Navidad.

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