A Review on the Factors Affecting the Deposition, Retention, and Biodegradation of Oil Stranded on Beaches and Guidelines for Designing Laboratory Experiments

Boufadel, Michel C.; Geng, Xiaolong; An, Chunjiang; Owens, Edward H.; Chen, Zhi; Lee, Kenneth; Taylor, Elliott; Prince, Roger C.

doi:10.1007/s40726-019-00129-0

Cited by 32 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 154 publications

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“…Current study focuses on laboratory‐scale groundwater flow and solute transport in heterogeneous and isotropic media subjected to artificial tides, based on our previous tank experiments. However, by introducing a dimensionless formulation, the framework for the numerical simulations along with the results presented in this paper could be used to generalize studies of isotropic/anisotropic beaches at different scales (Boufadel et al, ; Boufadel et al, ; Li, Boufadel, & Weaver , ). The scaling and isotropy‐anisotropy transpose could be achieved by conserving three dimensionless parameters: R , CF , and T s , expressed as follows:

R = \frac{K_{italicxo}}{K_{italiczo}} {(\frac{L_{z}}{L_{x}})}^{2}

where the parameter R combines the ratio of the domain dimensions and the ratio of anisotropy and K x0 and K z0 and L x and L z denote saturated hydraulic conductivities (e.g., geometric mean) and scaling length in x and z directions, respectively.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Numerical Study of Solute Transport in Heterogeneous Beach Aquifers Subjected to Tides

Geng

Boufadel

Rajaram

et al. 2020

Water Resources Research

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A numerical study, based on a variably saturated groundwater flow model within a Monto Carlo framework, was conducted to investigate flow and solute transport in a heterogeneous beach aquifer subjected to tides. The numerical simulations were conducted based on our previous tracer experiments performed in a laboratory beach. Heterogeneity is assumed to be multifractal generated using the Universal Multifractal model. Our results show that heterogeneity greatly alters temporal and spatial evolution of the tracer plume migrating in the beach. The spreading coefficient of the plume shows very dynamic response to tides; it increases as the tidally driven recirculation cell overlaps with the plume and decreases as the recirculation cell moves far from the plume with tides. Descriptive statistics suggests that heterogeneity enhances spreading of the plume in the beach in an ensemble sense along with significant spatial and temporal variation. Due to heterogeneity, high spots of the pore water velocity are formed within the recirculation cell, creating transient preferential flow paths in the beach in response to tides. Contours of the Okubo‐Weiss (OW) parameter show that coupling with tides, heterogeneity creates vorticity‐dominated flow regions and also expands strain‐dominated flow regions more downward, indicating complex local‐scale mixing in the beach, compared to corresponding homogeneous case. Geologic heterogeneity also alters the spatial extent of the recirculating cell and induces highly variable transit time along the recirculating flow paths. The results provide insights into effects of geologic heterogeneity on seawater‐groundwater mixing and associated solute transport processes in tidally influenced coastal aquifers.

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R = \frac{K_{italicxo}}{K_{italiczo}} {(\frac{L_{z}}{L_{x}})}^{2}

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Numerical Study of Solute Transport in Heterogeneous Beach Aquifers Subjected to Tides

Geng

Boufadel

Rajaram

et al. 2020

Water Resources Research

Self Cite

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“…The simulation results also highlight the important implications of heterogeneity on nearshore pollution and geochemical reactions. On one hand, the highly variable 3D flowpaths could lead to spreading of inland‐derived pollutants and difficulty in remediating contamination such as oil spills (Boufadel et al., 2019; Geng et al., 2016; Lester et al., 2016; Neupauer et al., 2014). In addition, the 3D flow paths increase uncertainty of when and where the main pollutants discharge from nearshore aquifers to the ocean.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Along‐Shore Movement of Groundwater and Its Effects on Seawater‐Groundwater Interactions in Heterogeneous Coastal Aquifers

Geng

Michael

2021

Water Resources Research

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Studies of coastal groundwater dynamics often assume two‐dimensional (2D) flow and transport along a shore‐perpendicular cross‐section. We show that along‐shore movement of groundwater may also be significant in heterogeneous coastal aquifers. Simulations of groundwater flow and salt transport incorporating different geologic structure show highly three‐dimensional (3D) preferential flow paths. The along‐shore movement of groundwater on average accounts for 40%–50% of the total flowpath length in both conduit‐type (e.g., volcanic) heterogeneous aquifers and statistically equivalent (e.g., deltaic) systems generated with sequential indicator simulation (SIS). Our results identify a critical role of three‐dimensionality in systems with connected high‐permeability geological features. 3D conduit features connecting land and sea cause more terrestrial groundwater flow through the inland boundary and intensify water exchange along the land‐sea interface. Therefore, conduits increase the rate of SGD compared to equivalent homogeneous, SIS and corresponding 2D models. In contrast, in SIS‐type systems, less‐connected high‐permeability features produce mixing zones and SGD nearer to shore, with comparable rates in 3D and 2D models. Onshore, 3D heterogeneous cases have longer flowpaths and travel times from recharge to discharge compared to 2D cases, but offshore travel times are much shorter, particularly for conduit‐type models in which flow is highly preferential. Flowpath lengths and travel times are also highly variable in 3D relative to 2D for all heterogeneous simulations. The results have implications for water resources management, biogeochemical reactions within coastal aquifers, and subsequent chemical fluxes to the ocean.

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“…By reversing the belt direction to create a central upwelling region, the suspension of sediments can also be studied. Experiments with both oil droplets and sediments can also be performed to study the formation of OPAs (Boufadel et al 2019; Ji et al 2021). In addition, our experimental facility can serve as a tool for validating multiphase computational models of particle behavior in Langmuir cells.…”

Section: Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

An experimental Stommel Retention Zone facility with an application to oil droplet dispersion

Gurung

Smith

Zeidi

et al. 2022

Limnology & Ocean Methods

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Stommel Retention Zones (SRZs) associated with wind-driven Langmuir circulation (LC) facilitate the subsurface retention of particles and thus affect processes such as oil spill dispersion, sediment suspension, oil-particle aggregation, and plankton distribution. Since the effect of SRZs on these processes is difficult to study in the field, we present a novel laboratory facility designed to recreate the counterrotating vortex pair flow pattern associated with small-scale SRZs of various strengths in two dimensions (2D). We then inject an oil jet into this facility to study buoyant oil droplet retention in these SRZs. 2D particle image velocimetry and hybrid Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes/large eddy simulation are used to characterize the flow. Large-scale oil droplet trajectories in the SRZs are visualized, and oil droplet statistics in the downwelling region and vortex core are measured using high-magnification brightfield imaging and a droplet detection algorithm. Values of maximum velocity (7.7-32.2 mm s À1 ), turbulent kinetic energy (10 À6 to 10 À4 m 2 s À2 ), and turbulent kinetic energy dissipation rate (10 À7 to 10 À5 m 2 s À3 ) in the downwelling region of the facility fall within the range of values observed in the field. Flow field strength strongly influences oil droplet trajectories, the shape and size of the SRZ, and oil droplet statistics over time, with stronger flows retaining larger oil droplets in the downwelling region over longer periods of time. Indeed, droplets of almost 400 μm diameter are observed in the downwelling region after almost 10 min for the strongest flow. The facility may be used to study the behavior of microplastics, sediments, and zooplankton in LC in the future.

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A Review on the Factors Affecting the Deposition, Retention, and Biodegradation of Oil Stranded on Beaches and Guidelines for Designing Laboratory Experiments

Cited by 32 publications

References 154 publications

Numerical Study of Solute Transport in Heterogeneous Beach Aquifers Subjected to Tides

Numerical Study of Solute Transport in Heterogeneous Beach Aquifers Subjected to Tides

Along‐Shore Movement of Groundwater and Its Effects on Seawater‐Groundwater Interactions in Heterogeneous Coastal Aquifers

An experimental Stommel Retention Zone facility with an application to oil droplet dispersion

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