Wave tank to simulate the movement of oil under breaking waves

Danis Botrus, Erik Wickley-Olsen, Rich Weggel, Albert D. Venosa, Michel C. Boufadel, James W. Weaver, Ken Lee

Research output: Contribution to conferencePaperpeer-review

8 Scopus citations

Abstract

Wave breaking plays an important role in the dispersion of oil and its downward diffusion. Recent studies have shed light on the magnitude of the energy dissipation rate needed to disperse an oil slick floating on the water surface, but the role of the breaker in the downward movement of oil has not been quantified, and is thus the goal of this work. Dispersive Focusing was used to generate a plunging breaker in a transparent tank whose dimensions are 20 m long X 1.0 m wide X 0.75 water m deep. The breaker height was about 15 cm. About 14,000 pieces of confetti paper of dimension 0.5 cm X 0.5 cm were placed on the water surface and tracked using a video camera. These papers constituted a good tracer because their density was essentially equal to that of water (slightly lighter). The results indicate that the plume (simulating oil droplets) gets divided into two parts, one of them moves upstream. This is in contrast to previous study that showed that all transport is forward.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages53-68
Number of pages16
StatePublished - 2008
Externally publishedYes
Event31st AMOP Technical Seminar on Environmental Contamination and Response - Calgary, AB, Canada
Duration: Jun 3 2008Jun 5 2008

Other

Other31st AMOP Technical Seminar on Environmental Contamination and Response
Country/TerritoryCanada
CityCalgary, AB
Period6/3/086/5/08

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • General Chemical Engineering
  • Energy Engineering and Power Technology
  • Ocean Engineering
  • General Environmental Science

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