Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
VOLUME XVII
AND
NUnfBER 5
OCEANOGRAPHY
TURBULENT DIFFUSION OF OIL IN THE OCEAN1
Stephen P. Muway
Coastal Studies Institute, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge 70803
ABSTRACT
On-site observations of oil slick geometries and current speeds during the Chevron spill
of March 1970 in the Gulf of Mexico have allowed a comparative evaluation of the role
of large-scale turbulence (in the fomr of a horizontal eddy diffusivity) and surface tension
effects in the spreading of oil from a continuously emitting well into a steady current. The
initial outline of the slick (roughly the first 50% of slick length) follows the laws of
expansion as predicted by Taylor’s turbulent diffusion theory. The gross size and overall
shape (neglecting details of outline) of this type of slick are well represented by a solution
to the Fickian diffusion equations which predict approximate slick geometry as a function
of current speed, horizontal eddy diffusivity, the oil discharge rate, and an empirically
determined constant ( the boundary concentration).
Under the conditions observed the effect of surface tension seems confined to within
the first few hundred meters downslick and can probably be neglected for practical pur-
poses under moderate oil discharge rates and current speeds as low as even 5 cm/set.
FIG. 1. Location map of continuous spilling oil well Ml? 41C. Star symbols indicate ship stations
where physical data were collected. Depth contours are in meters.
ing details of boundary shape) is succcss- sity discontinuities associated with R4is-
fully attacked with a simple Fickian dif- sissippi River outflow were occasionally
fusion model. The Taylor and Fickian observed in the surface waters. They were
approaches arc compatible inasmuch as usually manif ested by surf ace convcr-
they both predict diffusion coefficients of gcnccs, extended anywhere from 4 to 40
essentially the same magnitude, Finally, km in length, and had a decided cffcct
the results of a theory (Fay 1969) empha- on any continuous oil slick that they intcr-
sizing surface tension effects in the spread- cepted. The slick was usually cut off, lat-
ing of oil at sea are compared to the cral diffusion was greatly curtailed, and,
observations and the turbulence theory dcpcnding on the angle between the cur-
predictions. rent carryin, u the slick and the density dis-
The effect of a significant slope in sur- continuity, conditions exactly analogous to
face of the oil, such as the sudden rclcase “lofting” and “trapping” of smoke plumes
of a large amount of oil by a holed tanker, (Bierly and IIcwson 1962), albeit in the
was considered by Abbott and Hayashi horizontal plant, occurred.
(1967) and is ncglectcd here.
THE TAYLOR DIFFUSION EQUATIONS
The following discussion applies only to
fully formed slicks. In the vicinity of the The various rates of spread of oil shown
Chevron spill prominent horizontal dcn- in many of the photographs closely resem-
OIL IN TIIE OCEAN 653
FIG. 2. Linear, transitional, and parabolic diffusion regimes predicted by the Taylor theory.
bled the behavior of atmospheric smoke For very short time lags, 6, u’(t) py~‘(6[)
plumes. Taylor’s ( 1921, 1935) rcla tion and I$,( f) N 1. For long time lags [, there
will be on the average no relation between
u’(t) and u’(t-6); so R,(f) e 0. Similar
has been the starting point for most mod- expressions for R, ( f) and R,( 6) extend the
cm diffusion theories. This equation dc- Taylor analysis to three dimensions.
scribes the spread in the y direction (across After considering very short times, T,
the plume) of particles (or marked fluid performing the double integration of ( 1) ,
parcels) from a continuous source where and then taking the first derivative with
cV2 is the variance of the y distances of rcspcct to time of UV, equation ( 1) re-
the fluid parcels from the source, (u’ 2, is duces to
the square of the turbulence intensity, as- da;,‘dT = (v’~)*. 6-U
sumcd to be constant over a period of sev- In the case of long diffusion times, x By(t)
eral hours, o’ = v - (v), where u is the 3 t * a constant, and equation ( 1) re-
instantaneous speed in the y direction and du&’ to
(0) is its average over a suitable length of [ dcU2/dT] m = 2 (v’ 2,t,*
time, ,$ and t arc time parameters, and R(t) (4)
is the Lagrangian autocorrelation function. where the subscript 00 refers to the ulti-
The angle brackets denote the suitable av- mate constant value the derivative will
eraging operation. For a detailed deriva- attain.
tion of (1) see Haltincr and Martin (1959). If a uniform horizontal mean flow is
The Lagrangian autocorrelation function passing the source moving in the positive
measures the relationship between the vc- x direction at a speed, U, assumed con-
locity of a parcel at one instant and the stant over a period of, say, several hours,
the relation T = x/U can be used to trans-
velocity of the same parcel at some subsc-
form the spread of the material into the
qucnt instant.
x-y plant; so (3) becomes (for short dif-
ww v’(t - t>> fusion times )
wi3 = (v’2) * (2) da;/dx = (v’“)+/U (5)
654 STEPIIEN I?. MURRAY
TABLE 1. Intensity of turbulence indicatecl by oil equations to account for such cffccts as
at MP 41C, March 1.970 fallout, coagulation, and evaporation (see
-____- ---.-. ---__
-- --_---__ ___-- -- . _____
--- _^_ ____--__
Yudinc 1959; Sutton 1953). These data do
Source tan 8 = <V’ 2 > 1/2,u not warrant such refincmcnts. Empirical
_______ ---- - _-- __---_ ..___-___ ~__
U.S.G.S. determination of the diffusion coefficient
Infrared color, undated 0.41 K in the field during an oil spill should
Color No. 0074, 14 Mar 0.25
Color No. 0003, 16 Mar 0.33 take these effects into account, however.
Color No. 0071, 14 Mar 0.28 Inspection of our own color and infra-
B&Wmosaic, 22 Mar 0.22
red color photographs, together with pho-
B&Wmosaic, 13 Mar 0.22
Remote Sens-ing Inc. tographs and infrared imagery, clearly and
14 Mar 0.22 repeatedly shows the prcsencc of the lin-
11 Mar 0.10
N.A.S.A., Mx 135 ear regime near the spilling well. For
Flight 1, 1500 hours 16 Mar 0.27 want of information on the cross-slick be-
Flight 2, 1900 hours 16 Mar 0.26
Average 0.25
havior of oil thickness or concentration,
_- __._-. .- -..- .- - ------ ~I-_____ assume that in the early stages of expan-
sion dcr,/dx = dR/dx where R is the dis-
tance (y coordinate) to the visible edge
and (4) becomes (for long diffusion times)
of the slick. This assumption, when judi-
[ drg2/dx] 00= 2 (vt2)+ P/U, (6) ciously applied as a first approximation,
has yielded good results in smoke plume
where I*, the Lagrangian eddy size, = studies (Inouc 1951, 1960). Table 1 lists
(~‘~)ft~*. Thus dc,/dx for short times and the values of the relative turbulence intcn-
dcrg2/dx for long times arc both constant. sity (vt2)f/U computed from the angle of
Figure 2 illustrates the three ensuing dif- expansion of the oil slick from the well
fusion regimes : the linear or short-term (equation 5). The average of the 10 obscr-
regime, where (T, cc x, the intermediate or vations is 0.25, equivalent to an cxpan-
transitional regime, where C, cc P, % < n sion angle of about 28”. These results arc
< 1, and the long-term or parabolic re- in agrecmcnt with Okubo and Farlow’s
gimc, where cV cc x3. (1967) values of 0.10-0.20 from the Great
Taylor has further demonstrated that Lakes in mean currents a full order of
the diffusion coefficient, K,, can bc cx- magnitude less than those measured here.
pressed as In currents of magnitude 60 cm/set (about
K, = % ( dcrV2/dT) = (U/2) ( dog2/dx), (7) twice those of this study), I (Murray 1971)
reported the relative turbulcncc intensity
which has an ultimate constant value varying between 0.15 and 0.25. Thercforc
given, by substituting (S), it appears that the oil is spreading in a
K, = (v’2)tp. (8) manner quite similar to that cxpccted of
the water.
We can logically apply the one-dimen- Only one set of imagery shows a slick
sional (spreading in the y direction only) with sufficient length and contrast to per-
Taylor equations to the expanding oil mit the detailed measurements of the par-
slicks considered here because oil is gen- abolic regime and so the determination
erally constrained by buoyancy forces to of a value for the diffusion coefficient K,.
the surface (minimal mixing in the verti- This is the Remote Sensing Inc. ( RSI )
cal direction) and the longitudinal diffu- infrared imagery (8-14-p scanner) of 11
sion of the oil particles in the direction of March, 1230 hours CST. The plot of cy2
the mean horizontal velocity is negligible against x is shown in Fig. 3. As predicted
compared to the displacements in this di- by (6), the linear relationship between c,~
rection by the mean current itself. and x is strong; the regression cocfficicnt
For the case of a nonpassivc contami- = 0.97. With dcV2/dx now known, use of
nant, special terms may be added to the (7) leads to an estimate of the diffusion
OIL IN TIIE OCEAN 655
RSI
A
N.A.S.A. FLIGHT 1
STT
u= 55 cm/set <y/2> 27
c U.S.G.S.
----‘1-- --I
--
FIG. 4. Comparison between observed slicks and slick outline predicted by both Taylor diffusion
theory and surface tension theory of Fay ( 1969 ) . In ( A) and ( B ) the current speed was observed on
site; in ( C ) the current speed is estimated at the average value for the incident ( 29 cm/set) for the
turbulence theory, and estimated at 5 cm/set for the surface tension theory to maximize possible agrcc-
ment between Fay’s theory and the observation.
OIL IN TIlE OCEAN 657
lent mixing in a steady current, consider contour, say, the apparent boundary con-
the two-dimensional diffusion equation ccntration contour = Cb , is given by
ac dC 2Q (15)
gudx= w = (2m)WCZ,’
Pritchard ( 1966) discussed disadvantages
$(K~~)+&g)> . (11) in the assumption that plume boundaries
are equivalent to equal concentration lines.
where C is the concentration of oil. If the Setting + = 0 in ( 14)) the maximum cxten-
slick has come to steady state K/at = 0, sion downslick of the apparent boundary
and assuming that the diffusion is horizon- concentration contour is also obtained:
tally isotropic K, = K, = K and that K has
L = Q”/(4nK UCb2). (16)
reached its constant value, (11) has as the
exact solution for an infinite lint source The ratio A of slick width to slick length,
c QeUa’2K
KF
= 2rrK O( 2K > ’ (12) (17)
where 9 is the rate of emission of the is notably indcpendcnt of current speed,
source (~/XC), K. is, using standard nota- dcpcnding solely on the diffusion cocffi-
tion, the modified Bessel function of 2nd cient K and the apparent boundary con-
kind and zero order, and r = (x2 + y2)+. For ccntration Cb .
very rcasonablc values of U and K the first Using again the cxccllent data from the
term of the asymptotic expansion for Ko RSI slick, we are now able to calculate
(Abramowitz and Stegun 1965; Roberts the apparent boundary concentration Ct,
1923) can be substituted in ( 12), yielding from equation ( 15). WC arc treating Cl,,
then, as an empirically dctcrmincd con-
Qel/m/2X stant. With the imagery mcasurcmcnts of
c=
27rK W = 1,507 m, the on-site dctcrmination of
U = 30 cm/see and Q = 1,241 g/set, the
Therefore, computed value of Cb = 0.13 X lo-“. Now,
c= Qe-
(Ur/XK) (l-COH$) since the RSI slick length is mcasurcd as
2(rrKUr)* ’ (14) 14,710 m and Cb is known, WC can calcu-
late from (16) a value of K, the diffusion
whcrc + is mcasurcd in a clockwise direc- cocfficicnt, which comes out to bc 1.5 x
tion from the positive x axis. Equation (14) lo5 cm2/sec, agreeing quite well with the
gives the distribution of the cmittcd oil as value of 1.1 x 10” cm2/sec estimated from
a function of distance and direction (r, 4) the slick expansion using Taylor’s relation
from the source, the rate of emission at ( equation 7). If we accept our earlier
the source Q, the ambient current speed estimate of K and calculate Cl, anew from
U, and the oil diffusion coefficient K. The (16) we arrive at Cb = 0.15 x 10-3.
value of Q (D. II. Dickson, Jr., personal Up to this point agreement bctwecn the
communication ) during the Chevron inci- Fickian theory and the one wcll-docu-
dent is taken as 1,000 bbl/day = 1,241 g mcnted (RSI) slick is good. The next step
/see. is to cheek the Fickian theory under more
Furthcrmorc, if we assume that the slick general conditions. The information most
boundary observed by the aerial sensors is frcqucntly reported by U.S. Coast Guard
a line of constant oil thickness or conccn- hclicoptcr surveillance teams during the
tration with a value denoted by Cb, then, Chevron spill was slick length and oricn-
following Roberts ( 1923), it can easily be tation. This amounted to 23 visual csti-
shown that the maximum width W of a mates. Eventually this effort was expanded
658 STEX?IIEN I?. MURRAY
TABLE 2. Slick shape factors during Chevron incident K and Q may vary in time only by
incident a factor of 3, although the current speed
~_.--_------- ___- ._ - may vary over an order of magnitude. Ap-
March Time Shape Factor parcntly it was the relatively strong cur-
-~___~-- ~- _--
rent (3040 cm/see) during the Chevron
11 1830 z 0.10
26 0011 z 0.50 incident that kept slicks to a manageable
26 1756 Z 0.19 size and greatly reduced the possibility of
29 0140 z 0.22
29 1905 z 0.07 serious pollution.
30 1521 Z 0.17 To summarize the available data indi-
30 1940 z 0.16 catc that the gross size and shape of oil
31 2030 Z 0.32
Average 0.22 slicks discussed hcrc are adequately pre-
-- dieted by a Fickian diffusion equation
which includes the effects of oil discharge
to obtain rather more d&ailed slick gcom- rate, lateral eddy diffusivity, and current
etrics, amounting to eight cases ( see Table speed. Note that the actual forces rcspon-
2). Taking averages of the variables and sible for the spreading of the oil arc the
neglecting higher order terms, (16) can turbulent eddy stresses. They are acting
bc written on the slick in the same manner as they
act on floating IBM cards, a tool used by
numerous investigators in studies of turbu-
09 = Q2 {1+%]. (18) lent diffusion at sea and in lakes.
47G2K7) (G
With (L) = 12,600 m (average of 23 visual SURFACE EFFECTS THEORY
estimates over a 3-week period) and (U) Fay (1969) developed a theory for the
= 29 cm/see (average speed based on 187 spread of oil on the sea which cmphasizcd
observations), then (K) for this period is the roles of gravity and surface tension in
estimated at 1.9 X lo5 cm2/scc, almost accelerating spreading and the viscous
twice the value for the RSI slick but cn- and inertial forces in retarding spreading.
tirely reasonable. The second term in the The surface tension force is formulated as
bracket of ( IS), representing the contri- o/w h (whcrc c is the net surface tension,
bution to (K) of the deviations U’ and L’, w is slick width, and h is slick thickness),
was evaluated for the 9 cases where simul- the gravity force as Apg h/w (where Ap is
tancous observations of U and L wcrc the differential density between water and
available and found to be <O.Ol. Substi- oil, g is acceleration of gravity), the inertia
tuting this value of (K) into (17) predicts force as pw/t2, and the viscous force as
an average width to length ratio x = 0.12. (pv) (w/t)6 (whcrc 6 the thickness of the
The avcragc of the 8 o.bservations in Table uppermost layer of water set into motion
2 is again within a factor of 2. by the viscous forces 6 = v tl and v is the
To consider the gross size of slicks fol- kinematic viscosity of water). Using a
lowing this approach, an elliptical approx- conservation of oil (volume) equation Q’ =
imation for the area is sufficiently accurate h w U and replacing t by x/U, Fay derived
for present purposes, A = nab where a is three spreading regimes : a gravity-inertia
the semimajor axis and b is the scmiminor regime, a gravity-viscous regime, and a
axis. Therefore combining ( 15) and ( 16)) surface tension-viscous regime. Consider
the ratio of the gravity force to the surface
A- Q”
(1% tension force
8(2rre)lKU2Cb3’
Slick area is predicted to incrcasc with the --Am Qf2
WV
o- w2 u2
cube of the oil discharge rate and decrease
as K and the square of the current speed (Weber number over Froude number) as
U grow larger. In a given offshore oil spill a measure of the importance of gravity
OIL IN TIIE OCEAN’ 659
OKUBO, A., AND J. S. FARLOW. 1967. Analysis SUTTON, A. G. 1953. Micrometeorology. Mc-
of some Great Lakes drogue studies. Proc. graw-IIill. 333 p.
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308. movements. Proc. London Math. Sot. 20:
PRITCHARD, D. W. 1966. Comment, p. 482. 196-212.
In Disposal of radioactive wastes into seas, 1935. Statistical theory of turbulence,
oceans, and surface waters. Int. At. Energy -* Proc. Roy. Sot. (London), Ser.
Parts l-4.
Agency.
1923. The theoretical scat- A 151: 421-478.
ROUERTS, 0. F. T.
tering o’f smoke in a turbulent atmosphere. YUDINE, M. I. 1959. Physical considerations on
Proc. Roy. Sot. (London), Ser. A 104: heavy particle diffusion. Advan. Gcophys.
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