Computational Modeling of Submarine Oil Spill with Current and Wave by FLUENT

As the oil spill models are usually based on the sea surface and few researches are for submarine oil spill nowadays, the simulation for submarine pipeline oil spill is discussed by FLUENT to forecast the trajectory of oil. The coupling of pressure and velocity under unsteady-state condition is solved by pressure implicit with splitting of operator’s algorithm and the boundary condition of nonlinear free surface is solved by volume of fluid. The simulation of oil particles motion is carried out. Furthermore, the quantity and trajectory of spilled oil under different operating pressure, current velocities and wave lengths are compared and analyzed. The results show that wave and current have important effects on the location and oil film area on sea surface. The submarine diffusion scope of spilled oil is smaller with larger operating pressure or lower current velocity. With wave length increasing, the water depth influenced by wave, the scope of oil dispersion underwater and the oil film area on surface increase.