About the use of computational fluid dynamic (CFD) in the frameworck of physical limnological studies on a Great Lake

The aim of this chapter is to discuss how far computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is currently able to simulate the limnological physics of a complex natural body of water. The experience reported by the authors is in progress at the CNR- ISE (Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto per lo Studio degli Ecosistemi; National Research Council, Institute of Ecosystem Study) of Pallanza, Italy. The main features of the current state of the art in this field of application of mathematical modeling techniques are summarized and the characteristics of the computer code now in use for our studies on Lake Maggiore are described in detail. Examples of the kind of information that can be extracted from the outputs are given to show how knowledge collected by traditional analysis of the experimental data and in situ observations can be improved with this kind of support. Forecasts for future trends are also suggested.