Simulation of scenarios of oil droplet formation from the Deepwater Horizon blowout. Academic Article

abstract

• Knowledge of the droplet size distribution (DSD) from the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) blowout is an important step in predicting the fate and transport of the released oil. Due to the absence of measurements of the DSD from the DWH incident, we considered herein hypothetical scenarios of releases that explore the realistic parameter space using a thoroughly calibrated DSD model, VDROP-J, and we attempted to provide bounds on the range of droplet sizes from the DWH blowout within 200 m of the wellhead. The scenarios include conditions without and with the presence of dispersants, different dispersant treatment efficiencies, live oil and dead oil properties, and varying oil flow rate, gas flow rate, and orifice diameter. The results, especially for dispersant-treated oil, are very different from recent modeling studies in the literature.

authors

• Socolofsky, Scott

published proceedings

• Mar Pollut Bull

altmetric score

• 1

author list (cited authors)

• Zhao, L., Boufadel, M. C., Adams, E., Socolofsky, S. A., King, T., Lee, K., & Nedwed, T.

citation count

• 70

complete list of authors

• Zhao, Lin||Boufadel, Michel C||Adams, Eric||Socolofsky, Scott A||King, Thomas||Lee, Kenneth||Nedwed, Timothy

publication date

• January 2015

publisher

• Elsevier  Publisher

published in

• MARINE POLLUTION BULLETIN  Journal

keywords

• Computer Simulation
• Deepwater Horizon
• Droplet Size Distribution
• Environmental Monitoring
• Jets And Plumes
• Models, Theoretical
• Oil Spill
• Particle Size
• Petroleum
• Petroleum Pollution
• Population Balance Model
• Seawater

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

• 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2015.10.068

start page

• 304

end page

• 319

volume

• 101

issue

• 1

URL

• http%3A%2F%2Fdx.doi.org%2F10.1016%2Fj.marpolbul.2015.10.068

user-defined tag

• 3 Good Health and Well-Being