Simulation of oil drops dynamics in seawater environment

摘要

The paper describes and validates the original physical model describing the floating and dissolving of oil drops in seawater environment. The model is based on the representation of crude oil as a two-component mixture consisting of the well-soluble light fraction and the insoluble heavy fraction with density equal to that of seawater. The well-known approach initially developed for dissolving of gas bubbles is used for parameterization of the dissolving process of oil-drop light fraction. The simulation of floating and dissolving of various size oil drops provides an insight into the processes involved in self-cleaning of accidental oil spills on the sea surface and helps to evaluate the possibility of display on sea surface pollution of crude oil leaking from wormholes and cracks in seabed pipelines. The paper also presents computer simulation results illustrating the main features of oil droplets dynamics in seawater environment.