OPTIMIZATION OF AN OIL BOOM ARRANGEMENT

Abstract

ABSTRACT The equipment under study is an innovative boom arrangement consisting of a ramp boom and three other conventional booms of different drafts. To optimize the design, an advanced volume of fluid (VOF) algorithm is developed to calculate oil-water flows in the complex geometry. The effects of the gravity, current velocity, and depth; spans between the conventional booms; the ramp boom's draft and inclination angle; oil viscosity; and density are considered in the present numerical modeling. A comparison was made between the computational simulation and the laboratory experiment of the boom arrangement and satisfactory results were obtained. From the numerical investigations, it is found that the oil slick flowing behind the ramp boom is similar to that of a solid object traveling under the influence of gravity. To achieve a high performance, the ramp slope should be as small as possible and the span of the boom system should cover the oil's “landing distance.” Under the current tide conditions, the simulations show that the small amplitude tide may improve the system's performance, while the large amplitude tide significantly deteriorates it. The smaller angular-frequency tide is more harmful to the system, especially if the tide's amplitude is large at the same time.