Study on the fountain effect of the bubble plume formed by submarine gas pipeline leakage

Abstract

The leakage from submarine gas pipelines presents a significant threat to marine ecological environments. Bubble plumes can be formed when gas escapes, which can give rise to the distinctive fountain phenomenon by interacting with the water surface. It is imperative to understand the factors that influence the physical dimensions and temporal characteristics of the resulting fountain to elucidate the formation mechanism of this phenomenon. Gas leakage experiments under various conditions are conducted to investigate the dynamic characteristics of the fountain in the study. The findings reveal the following: The initial kinetic energy of the escaping gas varies significantly under different leakage scenarios, resulting in the positive correlation between the maximum fountain height and width, as well as the leakage pressure and diameter of the leakage hole. Then, the analysis of dimensional indicates that the dynamic equilibrium of the bubbles is intricately tied to both the Froude number (Fr) and Reynolds number (Re). Notably, the effect of leakage pressure on Fr and Re follows similar patterns. However, the trends of Fr and Re values across varying leak hole diameters are opposite. At last, the frequency analysis of the time series data related to the fountain height demonstrates that higher leakage pressure and larger leak hole diameters result in an increase in both the main frequency and bandwidth. The research results offer valuable insights for evaluating the impact of gas leakage intensity on the marine environment by analyzing the size parameters of fountain.