Numerical modeling of two-phase fluid flow and oil slick transport in estuarine water

Abstract

ABSTRACT:Oil spills is one of the most important hazards in the estuarine and coastal water. In recent decades, engineers try to predict the status of oil slick to manage the pollution spreading. The prediction of oil slick transport is carried out mainly by means of numerical models. In the current study, the development and application of a two-phase fluid flow model to simulate oil transport in the marine environment are presented. Different transport and fate processes are included in the developed model. The model consists of the Lagrangian method for the advection process, the Random Walk technique for horizontal diffusion process and the empirical equations for the fate processes. The major forces for driving oil particles are fluid current, wind speed and turbulent flow. Therefore, the multi-component hydrocarbon method has been included to the developed model in order to predict fate processes. As prediction of particle velocity components is of major importance for oil slick advection, therefore the binomial interpolation procedure has been chosen for the particle velocity components computations. In addition, shoreline boundary condition is included in the developed model to simulate shore response to oil slick transport near the beaches. The results of the model applications are compared with the analytical solutions, experimental measurements and other numerical models cited in literature. Comparisons of different sets of results represent the capability of developed model to predict the oil slick transport. In addition, the developed model is tested for two oil spill cases in the Persian Gulf.

Environmental sensitivity mapping and risk assessment for oil spill along the Chennai Coast in India

“…Preexisting information on coastal resources and prioritized protection areas allow for a faster response and better distribution of protection and cleanup efforts, thereby facilitating appropriate coastal management (Santos and Andrade, 2009). In the last three decades, the movement of oil spills on the water surface has been studied extensively (Wang and Shen, 2010), resulting in two-dimensional (2D) oil spill models of advection and spreading (Nagheeby and Kolahdooza, 2010). At present, models are commonly used to study oil trajectories for planning or assessment purposes (Galt, 1994, Kankara et al, 2013.…”

Atmospheric boundary layer simulation in a short wind tunnel

“…Determining the effects of wind on high-rise buildings, bridges and other architectural structures is of critical importance and is an integral part of the structural design process (American Society of Civil Engineers [ASCE] 2005). Also, wind profile simulation is very important in environmental pollution transportation modeling (Nagheeby and Kolahdoozan 2010;Abdullah et al 2007;Freddy Kho et al 2007). …”

Production of biosurfactant by Nocardia otitidiscaviarum and its role in biodegradation of crude oil

“…The ability of biosurfactants to emulsify hydrocarbon-water mixtures has been very well documented (Oberbremer et al, 1990;Francy et al, 1991;Zhang and Miller, 1992;Goyal et al,2008). This property has been demonstrated to increase hydrocarbon degradation significantly, thus it is potentially useful for oil spill management (Atlas and Bartha, 1992;Banat 1993;Bonin et al, 1994;Husseien et al, 2009;Nagheeby and kolahdoozan, 2010). Haghighat et al (2008) reported indigenous isolate from crude oil storage tank in Tehran Refinery, Tehran, Iran, Bacillus licheniformis and Bacillus subtitlis for MEOR which produce lipopetide biosurfactant.…”