Development of a unified oil droplet size distribution model with application to surface breaking waves and subsea blowout releases considering dispersant effects

Li, Zhengkai; Spaulding, Malcolm L.; McCay, Deborah French; Crowley, Deborah; Payne, James R.

doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2016.09.008

Cited by 88 publications

(80 citation statements)

References 22 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…4). These values are similar to the d 50 = 1-2 mm predicted by Spaulding et al (9,15) for their (bimodally distributed) droplet sizes, also assuming dispersant injection. Our thermodynamic model predicts that natural gas bubbles released at 1,505-m depth are ∼190 times more dense than natural gas bubbles at the sea surface, but that their interfacial tension with seawater remains high (12 mN·m −1 with dispersant injection) such that their simulated sizes (0.3-to 4.7-mm diameter, according to VDROP-J) are similar to near-surface bubbles.…”

Section: Initial Size Distributions Of Petroleum Liquid Droplets and Gassupporting

confidence: 90%

Petroleum dynamics in the sea and influence of subsea dispersant injection during Deepwater Horizon

Gros

Socolofsky

Dissanayake

et al. 2017

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

101

128

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

During the disaster, a substantial fraction of the 600,000-900,000 tons of released petroleum liquid and natural gas became entrapped below the sea surface, but the quantity entrapped and the sequestration mechanisms have remained unclear. We modeled the buoyant jet of petroleum liquid droplets, gas bubbles, and entrained seawater, using 279 simulated chemical components, for a representative day (June 8, 2010) of the period after the sunken platform's riser pipe was pared at the wellhead (June 4-July 15). The model predicts that 27% of the released mass of petroleum fluids dissolved into the sea during ascent from the pared wellhead (1,505 m depth) to the sea surface, thereby matching observed volatile organic compound(VOC) emissions to the atmosphere. Based on combined results from model simulation and water column measurements, 24% of released petroleum fluid mass became channeled into a stable deep-water intrusion at 900- to 1,300-m depth, as aqueously dissolved compounds (∼23%) and suspended petroleum liquid microdroplets (∼0.8%). Dispersant injection at the wellhead decreased the median initial diameters of simulated petroleum liquid droplets and gas bubbles by 3.2-fold and 3.4-fold, respectively, which increased dissolution of ascending petroleum fluids by 25%. Faster dissolution increased the simulated flows of water-soluble compounds into biologically sparse deep water by 55%, while decreasing the flows of several harmful compounds into biologically rich surface water. Dispersant injection also decreased the simulated emissions of VOCs to the atmosphere by 28%, including a 2,000-fold decrease in emissions of benzene, which lowered health risks for response workers.

show abstract

Section: Initial Size Distributions Of Petroleum Liquid Droplets and Gassupporting

confidence: 90%

Petroleum dynamics in the sea and influence of subsea dispersant injection during Deepwater Horizon

Gros

Socolofsky

Dissanayake

et al. 2017

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

101

128

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…With the continuous breakage of large droplets into small ones a uni‐modal distribution formed at around 0.06 m indicating the equilibrium was approached. The unimodal distribution from jet was assumed when developing equilibrium‐type correlations based on the Weber and Ohnsorge numbers and was also confirmed with experimental observations at sufficiently large distance from the oil release . Evidently, the advantage of VDROP‐J is that it provides the evolution of the DSD along the plume.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 64%

Oil jet with dispersant: Macro‐scale hydrodynamics and tip streaming

et al. 2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Modeling the movement of oil released underwater is a challenging task due to limitations in measuring the hydrodynamics in an oil‐water system. In this work, we conducted an experiment of horizontal release of oil without and with dispersant. The model VDROP‐J was used and compared to the model JETLAG, a miscible plume trajectory model. Both models were found to reproduce the oil jet hydrodynamics for oil without and with dispersant. The predicted DSD from VDROP‐J matched closely observation for untreated oil. For oil with dispersant, experimental results have shown evidence that tip streaming occurred. For this purpose, a new conceptual module was developed in VDROP‐J to capture the tip streaming phenomenon and an excellent match was achieved with observation. This study is the first to report tip streaming occurring in underwater oil jets, which should have consequences on predicting the DSD when dispersant are used on an underwater oil release. © 2017 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2017

show abstract

“…These data sets are used for developing a semiempirical droplet size distribution model based on a modified Weber number scaling (Johansen et al, ), which fits the experimental data well for nondispersant‐treated oils. Good fits to the Reed et al () and Delvigne and Hulsen () results are also achieved by an semiempirical Weber and Ohnesorge number‐based model introduced by Li et al (). Li et al (), have conducted a series wave tank experiments investigating effects of wave energy, dispersant type, evolution with time, and temperature on the droplet sizes, also using LISST‐100X.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 71%

Size Distribution and Dispersion of Droplets Generated by Impingement of Breaking Waves on Oil Slicks

et al. 2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This laboratory experimental study investigates the temporal evolution of the size distribution of subsurface oil droplets generated as breaking waves entrain oil slicks. The measurements are performed for varying wave energy, as well as large variations in oil viscosity and oil‐water interfacial tension, the latter achieved by premixing the oil with dispersant. In situ measurements using digital inline holography at two magnifications are applied for measuring the droplet sizes and Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) for determining the temporal evolution of turbulence after wave breaking. All early (2–10 s) size distributions have two distinct size ranges with different slopes. For low dispersant to oil ratios (DOR), the transition between them could be predicted based on a turbulent Weber (We) number in the 2–4 range, suggesting that turbulence plays an important role. For smaller droplets, all the number size distributions have power of about −2.1, and for larger droplets, the power decreases well below −3. The measured steepening of the size distribution over time is predicted by a simple model involving buoyant rise and turbulence dispersion. Conversely, for DOR 1:100 and 1:25 oils, the diameter of slope transition decreases from ∼1 mm to 46 and 14 µm, respectively, much faster than the We‐based prediction, and the size distribution steepens with increasing DOR. Furthermore, the concentration of micron‐sized droplets of DOR 1:25 oil increases for the first 10 min after entrainment. These phenomena are presumably caused by the observed formation and breakup oil microthreads associated with tip streaming.

show abstract

Development of a unified oil droplet size distribution model with application to surface breaking waves and subsea blowout releases considering dispersant effects

Cited by 88 publications

References 22 publications

Petroleum dynamics in the sea and influence of subsea dispersant injection during Deepwater Horizon

Petroleum dynamics in the sea and influence of subsea dispersant injection during Deepwater Horizon

Oil jet with dispersant: Macro‐scale hydrodynamics and tip streaming

Size Distribution and Dispersion of Droplets Generated by Impingement of Breaking Waves on Oil Slicks

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About