Oil droplets transport due to irregular waves: Development of large-scale spreading coefficients

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

3-15-2016

Abstract

The movement of oil droplets due to waves and buoyancy was investigated by assuming an irregular sea state following a JONSWAP spectrum and four buoyancy values. A technique known as Wheeler stretching was used to model the movement of particles under the moving water surface. In each simulation, 500 particles were released and were tracked for a real time of 4.0 h. A Monte Carlo approach was used to obtain ensemble properties. It was found that small eddy diffusivities that decrease rapidly with depth generated the largest horizontal spreading of the plume. It was also found that large eddy diffusivities that decrease slowly with depth generated the smallest horizontal spreading coefficient of the plume. The increase in buoyancy resulted in a decrease in the horizontal spreading coefficient, which suggests that two-dimensional (horizontal) models that predict the transport of surface oil could be overestimating the spreading of oil.

Identifier

84962815822 (Scopus)

Publication Title

Marine Pollution Bulletin

External Full Text Location

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2016.01.007

e-ISSN

18793363

ISSN

0025326X

First Page

279

Last Page

289

Issue

1-2

Volume

104

Grant

F5211-130060

Fund Ref

Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative

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