1. ESDV (Environmental Software and Digital Visualization), São Carlos 13561-120, Brazil
2. College of Mathematics, State University of Campinas, Campinas 13083-859, Brazil

This paper describes a numerical simulation of thermal discharge in the cooling pool of an electrical power station, aiming to develop general-purpose computational programs for grid generation and flow/pollutant transport in the complex domains of natural and artificial waterways. Three depth-averaged two-equation closure turbulence models, κ- ε, κ-w , and κ-ω, were used to close the quasi three-dimensional hydrodynamic model. The κ-ω model was recently established by the authors and is still in the testing process. The general-purpose computational programs and turbulence models will be involved in a software that is under development. The SIMPLE (Semi-Implicit Method for Pressure-Linked Equation) algorithm and multi-grid iterative method are used to solve the hydrodynamic fundamental governing equations, which are discretized on non-orthogonal boundary-fitted grids with a variable collocated arrangement. The results calculated with the three turbulence models were compared with one another. In addition to the steady flow and thermal transport simulation, the unsteady process of waste heat inpouring and development in the cooling pool was also investigated.