Modeling underwater transport of oil spilled from deepwater area in the South China Sea -- Journal of Oceanology and Limnology,2016,34(1):245-263

	Cite this paper:
	CHEN Haibo, AN Wei, YOU Yunxiang, LEI Fanghui, ZHAO Yupeng, LI Jianwei. Modeling underwater transport of oil spilled from deepwater area in the South China Sea[J]. Journal of Oceanology and Limnology, 2016, 34(1): 245-263

Modeling underwater transport of oil spilled from deepwater area in the South China Sea

CHEN Haibo^1,2, AN Wei², YOU Yunxiang¹, LEI Fanghui³, ZHAO Yupeng², LI Jianwei²

1 State Key Laboratory of Ocean Engineering, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai 200240, China;
2 China Offshore Environmental Service Co. Ltd ., Tianjin 300452, China;
3 China National Offshore Oil Corporation General Research Institute, Beijing 100027, China

Abstract:

Based on a Lagrangian integral technique and Lagrangian particle-tracking technique, a numerical model was developed to simulate the underwater transport of oil from a deepwater spill. This model comprises two submodels: a plume dynamics model and an advection-diff usion model. The former is used to simulate the stages dominated by the initial jet momentum and plume buoyancy of the spilled oil, while the latter is used to simulate the stage dominated by the ambient current and turbulence. The model validity was verifi ed through comparisons of the model predictions with experimental data from several laboratory fl ume experiments and a fi eld experiment. To demonstrate the capability of the model further, it was applied to the simulation of a hypothetical oil spill occurring at the seabed of a deepwater oil/gas fi eld in the South China Sea. The results of the simulation would be useful for contingency planning with regard to the emergency response to an underwater oil spill.

Key words: underwater oil spill|numerical simulation|contingency planning|deepwater oil/gas fi eld|South China Sea

Received: 2014-08-24 Revised: 2014-12-13

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Articles by CHEN Haibo

Articles by AN Wei

Articles by YOU Yunxiang

Articles by LEI Fanghui

Articles by ZHAO Yupeng

Articles by LI Jianwei

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