Modeling the fate of oil spills at sea |
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| Institution: | 1. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK 99775, United States;2. EDS Division, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO 80401, United States;1. First Institute of Oceanography, Ministry of Natural Resources, Qingdao, China;2. Laboratory for Regional Oceanography and Numerical Modeling, Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, Qingdao, China;3. Key Laboratory of Marine Science and Numerical Modeling (MASNUM), Ministry of Natural Resources, Qingdao, China;4. College of Information Science and Engineering, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, China;5. Key Laboratory of Data Analysis and Applications, Ministry of Natural Resources, Qingdao, China;6. Key Laboratory of Ocean Circulation and Waves, Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao, China;1. Department of Petroleum Natural Gas Engineering, Middle East Technical University, 06800 Ankara, Turkey;2. Department of Environmental Technology, SINTEF Materials and Chemistry, 7465 Trondheim, Norway |
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| Abstract: | A numerical model for the simulation of the physicochemical weathering processes of an oil spill at sea is presented based on state-of-the-art models. The model includes the most significant processes: spreading, evaporation, dispersion into the water column, emulsification and the change in viscosity and density. These processes depend on each other and are allowed to vary simultaneously since processes are described by a set of differential equations, solved by a fourth-order Runge-Kutta method. Numerical examples are given, in order to test the results obtained, and compared with available experimental data in the literature. The model predicts well the variation of water incorporation, density and viscosity but seems to overestimate the fraction evaporated. However more experimental data are needed to calibrate and validate the model since differences in the composition of the simulated oil and the samples from which experimental data are taken may occur in evaporation studies. The model is suitable to join other modules for the prediction of the spill trajectory by advection due to winds and currents and sub-sea transport. |
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