Abstract:

An in-house second order accurate finite-volume code “Chem3D” is used for simulation. The domain of interest is a rectangular box representing the ocean body with an oil-plume discharge at the bottom. The oil trajectory is identified via a multi-block surface tracking algorithm. An unstructured triangular mesh is identified as the oil-water interface, where as the bulk fluid is discretized using multi-block Cartesian cells. At each time step, the interface is advanced, and since it deforms in time, the interface mesh has to be regenerated. However, this approach provides a natural pathway to including surface tension and surface chemistry effects. Droplet breakoff is represented by a model, and separated droplets/bubbles are tracked individually. This method gives an approach towards accurate mapping of the oil separation and droplet formation effects. The velocity field data set provides geometrical coordinates used for modeling, velocity field, pressure field, flag indicator determining which volumetric grid contains the surface and phase indicator determining the different phases of the fluid. The data set is unsteady data set with ten timesteps which amounts to 1 second of physical time. The surface coordinates data set provides the evolution of the surface as the coordinates of the surface at each time step. Figure 1 shows the velocity contour at the final timestep at the symmetry plane. Figure 2 shows the tracked surface at the final timestep.

Suggested Citation:

Sumanta Acharya. 2014. Surface Tracking Map: oil separation and droplet formation of a simulated oil-plume discharging from the ocean floor.. Distributed by: GRIIDC, Harte Research Institute, Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi. doi:10.7266/N7M32SR5

Purpose:

The purpose is to study the effects of application of front-tracking models to simulate multiphase flows.

Data Parameters and Units:

Surface_Coordinates.xlsx-- directions of 5807 points of an unstructured surface mesh [x, y, z (meters)], tracked for one second at 0.1 second time intervals [Time = 0.1 : 0.1 : 1 (seconds)]. Velocity_field.xlsx-- directions of 960 [zone 1 to zone 324]center points of unstructured volume cells [x, y, z (meters)], velocities [u, v, w (meters/second)], pressure [p (Pascals)], surface/not_surface tag [-1=the cell contains the surface, 1=the cell does not contain the surface], phase indicator [1=a phase of the fluid, 0=interface, -1=another phase of the fluid thereby separating the fluids inside and outside of the interface].

Individual Files: