FluOil: A Novel Tool for Modeling the Transport of Oil-Particle Aggregates in Inland Waterways

Abstract

Spilled oil in inland waterways can aggregate with mineral and organic particles to form oil-particle aggregates (OPAs). OPAs can be transported in suspension or deposited to the bed. Modeling the fate and transport of OPAs can provide useful information for making mitigation decisions. A novel open-source tool, FluOil, is developed to predict where OPAs may deposit and when they arrive in affected river/lake reaches by implementing the random walk particle tracking algorithm to represent the advection, diffusion, deposition, and resuspension of OPAs. The usability of FluOil is demonstrated with the 2010 Kalamazoo River oil spill case study. An unsteady hydrodynamic model simulates the river hydraulics and provides hydraulic data for use in FluOil. Settling velocity and critical shear stress for resuspension are the most important OPA properties concerning the transport and deposition of OPAs. Settling velocity determines the vertical distribution of OPAs and, thus, the travel speed, whereas critical shear stress determines where and when OPAs are deposited and resuspended.

Prediction model and consequence analysis for riverine oil spills

“…The deposition of OPAs on the downstream riverbed varied with the properties of the oil, sand, and natural environment. Interested readers may refer to our previous study for more information on the formation and transport of OPAs (Wang et al, 2020b;Li et al, 2022).…”

“…The spilled oil may transform into a film, droplet, emulsion, aggregate, or other forms within 24 h of the spill (Afenyo et al, 2016;Brussaard et al, 2016), which brings potential challenges to the modeling field. Compared with the development of tools for oil spills in the ocean (Keramea et al, 2021;Zhao et al, 2021), studies on oil transportation in inland waterways are limited (Goeury et al, 2014;Kvočka et al, 2021), and new attempts at model optimization and calibration are still made by researchers around the world (Jiang et al, 2021;Li et al, 2022).…”

Formation of oil-particle aggregates with motor oil and kaolinite clay in cold and warm freshwater

“…This includes particle size distribution which is an important factor for modeling the fate and transport of oil spills, since the particle size distribution can affect the settling velocities and the duration of settling of the OPAs. 53,56 Moreover, an OPA formation model such as A-DROP can be coupled with a hydrodynamic model to investigate the formation and transport of OPAs in rivers and lakes. 57,58…”

Modeling the Breakup of Oil–Particle Aggregates in Turbulent Environments for Projectile Penetration

“…The studies of OPAs can be traced decades ago, where the afterward studies were extended on OPAs in different environments including freshwater systems, , shorelines, , or deeper waters in the oceans. , The modeling of the OPAs was investigated regarding their formation, distribution, settling, and transport. − The experimental and modeling results showed that denser OPAs can engulf the spilled oil under water, which is a crucial formation mechanism for submerged oil in marine environments. Consequently, many models − studied the existence of OPAs by introducing the concept of oil trapping efficiency (OTE), which denoted the ratio between the content of the oil trapped by OPAs and the content of oil initially existed.…”