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Applications and Applied Mathematics: An International Applications and Applied Mathematics: An International Journal (AAM) Journal (AAM) Volume 11 Issue 1 Article 23 6-2016 Mathematical model to study The spread of spilled oil in the soil Mathematical model to study The spread of spilled oil in the soil Nirmala P. Ratchagar Annamalai University S. V. Hemalatha Annamalai University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.pvamu.edu/aam Part of the Fluid Dynamics Commons Recommended Citation Recommended Citation Ratchagar, Nirmala P. and Hemalatha, S. V. (2016). Mathematical model to study The spread of spilled oil in the soil, Applications and Applied Mathematics: An International Journal (AAM), Vol. 11, Iss. 1, Article 23. Available at: https://digitalcommons.pvamu.edu/aam/vol11/iss1/23 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Digital Commons @PVAMU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Applications and Applied Mathematics: An International Journal (AAM) by an authorized editor of Digital Commons @PVAMU. For more information, please contact [email protected].

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Page 1: Mathematical model to study The spread of spilled oil in

Applications and Applied Mathematics: An International Applications and Applied Mathematics: An International

Journal (AAM) Journal (AAM)

Volume 11 Issue 1 Article 23

6-2016

Mathematical model to study The spread of spilled oil in the soil Mathematical model to study The spread of spilled oil in the soil

Nirmala P. Ratchagar Annamalai University

S. V. Hemalatha Annamalai University

Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.pvamu.edu/aam

Part of the Fluid Dynamics Commons

Recommended Citation Recommended Citation Ratchagar, Nirmala P. and Hemalatha, S. V. (2016). Mathematical model to study The spread of spilled oil in the soil, Applications and Applied Mathematics: An International Journal (AAM), Vol. 11, Iss. 1, Article 23. Available at: https://digitalcommons.pvamu.edu/aam/vol11/iss1/23

This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Digital Commons @PVAMU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Applications and Applied Mathematics: An International Journal (AAM) by an authorized editor of Digital Commons @PVAMU. For more information, please contact [email protected].

Page 2: Mathematical model to study The spread of spilled oil in

Available athttp://pvamu.edu/aam

Appl. Appl. Math.ISSN: 1932-9466

Applications and Applied

Mathematics:

An International Journal(AAM)

Vol. 11, Issue 1 (June 2016), pp. 351 – 363

Mathematical model to studyThe spread of spilled oil in the soil

Nirmala P. Ratchagar and S.V. Hemalatha

Department of MathematicsAnnamalai University

Annamalainagar - 608 002, [email protected], [email protected]

Received: July 3, 2015; Accepted: May 2, 2016

Abstract

A mathematical model describing the spread of spilled oil through the soil is discussed. The spreadof spilled oil in soil is controlled by the flow of water and is described by multiphase equations.In this context, the two-phase flow characteristics of oil-water flow with varying viscosity in thesubsurface coupled to an advective-diffusion equation are examined to study the transport of oil.The terms that model the interaction between the multiple phases are introduced at the boundary,such as the slip condition at the porous-fluid interface, shear stress condition at the fluid-fluidinterface, and the continuity of velocity at both the interfaces. The effect of various physicalparameters such as Schmidt number, retardation factor, viscosity ratio, porous and slip parameteron the velocity and concentration profiles are discussed in detail with the help of graphs. Thesurface plots of velocity and concentration of oil against axial distance at different time are alsoanalyzed. The obtained results show that the velocity of oil accelerates linearly with axial lengthand there is a decrease in the concentration of the spilled oil through the media. The validityof the results obtained is verified by comparison with available experimental result, and goodagreement is found.

Keywords: Spilled oil; oil-water movement; concentration; porous media; multiple phases; axialdistance.

MSC 2010 No.: 76D05, 76S05

351

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1. Introduction

Oil became a source of power for transport due to the development in technology. Accidentsinvolving spillages of oil onto the ground surface have the potential to create serious problemsin terms of both soil and groundwater contamination. The identification processes of migrationand degradation of oil products in soil is of great importance as it poses a health risk to humans,plants and animal lives. Most oils act as non-aqueous phase liquids (NAPLs) and their migrationin the subsurface has been the focus of numerous studies.

The complex oil spill phenomena consists of three phase fluid system with air, oil and waterexisting in the soil. The three-phase system may be evaluated as a combination of two phasesystems consisting of air/oil, air/water and oil/water. Many combinations govern the behavior ofthese systems in the soil. Some of them in the literature include, numerical model of multiphaseimmiscible flow for evaluating non-aqueous phase liquids (NAPL) such as petroleum hydrocar-bons and water phase flow in a two phase (water, NAPL) and three phase (air, water and NAPL)system (Faust, 1985; Faust et al., 1989; Osborne and Sykes, 1986; Kuppusamy et al., 1987;Kaluarachchi and Parker, 1989; Panday et al., 1994). Li and Zienkiewicz (1990) and Rahmanand Lewis (1999) extended the above study for deforming soil. Sabbah et al. (2004) studied thetransport of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in porous medium in the presence of dissolvedorganic matter and predicted the sorption constants of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons to soiland their binding constants to dissolved organic matter using breakthrough curves. Mukherjeeand Shome (2009) presented an analytical solution of fingering phenomenon arising in doublephase flow of water injected with constant velocity into a dipping oil saturated porous mediumusing calculus of variation and similarity theory.

The multiphase equation of fluid movement describes how quickly the infiltration would occur.A multiphase fluid flow equation is needed to calculate infiltration rate based on Darcy’s lawcombined with the fluid constitutive theory, which is made from the permeability functions andretention relations. The flow of each phase obeys Darcy’s law which states that the flow is linearlyproportional to the pressure gradient.

The objective of the present study is to achieve fundamental understanding of the two-phase flowsystem in the subsurface that describe the transport of oil components dissolved in the water thatoccupies the void space or part of it. In an oil spill two different types of flows occur. One is theflow in the vertical direction down to the water table, under the influence of gravity; the other isthe lateral spreading which occurs on the subsurface/on top of the water table. In this paper, weassume that the oil spill flows on a flat surface in a horizontal direction. Hochmuth and Sunada(1985) explained that the Dupuit-Forchheimer approximation holds this by assuming that the flowis strictly horizontal and is valid where vertical head gradients and components of flow are smallrelative to the horizontal (i.e. gradual water-table slopes). We restrict ourself to two-dimensionalmodels of oil filtration in soil, which show quite well all main properties of three-dimensionalmodels. This paper introduces a number of useful equations to study the spread of oil in soil.

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2. Problem Formulation

A spill will spread to a different context if the surface is either smooth or rough with manysurface depressions. Generally in nature soils seldom have a flat surface and almost alwaysthey have surfaces with complex configuration. In urban conditions there are many cases wherespilled oil covers the flat surface as positive pit rectangular type. Hence, we use a rectangularcoordinate system (x, y) to model this flow, where, x and y denote the horizontal and verticalcoordinates, respectively. The geometry under consideration consists of three-layer regions: regionI (h2 ≤ y ≤ H) and II (h1 ≤ y ≤ h2) are assumed to be fluid regions containing oil and water,with densities ρ1 and ρ2, viscosities µ1 and µ2, respectively and region III (0 ≤ y ≤ h1) is thesubsurface considered to be a fluid saturated porous medium initially filled with water as shownin Figure 1. For each layer, conservation of mass and momentum equations with appropriateboundary conditions at the domain boundary and interface are considered. The subsurface soilis considered to be a homogeneous porous medium bounded by fluid layers and the fluids aresupposed to be incompressible and the flow is transient. These flows are modeled via solutionof the Navier-Stokes equations coupled to a advective-diffusion equation for the concentration ofthe more viscous fluid (i.e. oil). Through an imposed pressure-gradient, the initially filled wateris displaced by oil. The viscosity is modeled as an exponential function of the concentration ofoil, while the density contrast is neglected. Under these assumptions, the governing equationsare rendered as follows:

Figure 1: Physical configuration

Region I and Region II:∂ui∂x

+∂vi∂y

= 0, (1)

∂ui∂t

+ ui∂ui∂x

+ vi∂ui∂y

= − 1

ρi

∂pi∂x

+ νi

(∂2ui∂x2

+∂2ui∂y2

), (2)

∂vi∂t

+ ui∂vi∂x

+ vi∂vi∂y

= − 1

ρi

∂pi∂y

+ νi

(∂2vi∂x2

+∂2vi∂y2

), (3)

where, i = 1, 2.

Region III:∂u3∂x

+∂v3∂y

= 0, (4)

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354 N.P. Ratchagar and S.V. Hemalatha

∂u3∂t

+ u3∂u3∂x

+ v3∂u3∂y

= −1

ρ

∂p3∂x

+1

ρ

(∂

∂x

(µ∂u3∂x

)+

∂y

(µ∂u3∂y

))− 1

ρkp(µu3) , (5)

∂v3∂t

+ u3∂v3∂x

+ v3∂v3∂y

= −1

ρ

∂p3∂y

+1

ρ

(∂

∂x

(µ∂v3∂x

)+

∂y

(µ∂v3∂y

))− 1

ρkp(µv3) , (6)

ρb∂s

∂t+ βw

∂c

∂t+ βwu3

∂c

∂x+ βwv3

∂c

∂y= βwD

(∂2c

∂x2+∂2c

∂y2

), (7)

where, u1 and v1 are the velocities of oil in region I, u2 and v2 are the velocities of oil in regionII, u3 and v3 are the velocities of oil in region III along the x and y directions, respectively, tis the time, c is the concentration of oil in water, s is the concentration of adsorbed oil in soil,pi represents the pressure on the regions I, II and III for i = 1, 2, 3, respectively, ρi representsthe density on the regions I and II for i = 1, 2, respectively, ρb is the soil bulk density, βw isthe volumetric water content of soil, D is the mass diffusivity and kp is the permeability of themedium. Here, the density (ρ) and viscosity (µ) of region III are scaled on that of less viscousfluid (i.e., water).

Accounting for equilibrium in linear sorption process, the retardation factor R = 1+ρbkdβw

, where,

s = kdC, kd is the adsorption coefficient, reduces equation (7) to

R∂c

∂t+ u3

∂c

∂x+ v3

∂c

∂y= D

(∂2c

∂x2+∂2c

∂y2

). (8)

The solution to the governing equations also require specification of boundary conditions. Theboundary effects are modeled using Beavers-Joseph slip condition (Beavers and Joseph, 1967)at the soil-water interface (y = h1), shear stress condition at the oil-water interface (y = h2)

and the continuity of velocity at both the interfaces. Under these assumptions and appropriateboundary conditions at the domain boundary, the velocity and concentration fields are defined atthe boundary as

u1 = v0(1 + εei(αx+ωt)), v1 = 0 at y = H, (9)

u1 = u2 , v1 = v2 ,∂p1∂x

=∂p2∂x

, µ1

(∂u1∂y

+∂v1∂x

)= µ2

(∂u2∂y

+∂v2∂x

)at y = h2, (10)

∂u3∂y

=αp√kp

(u3 − u2) ,∂u3∂y

=∂u2∂y

,∂p2∂x

=∂p3∂x

, v2 = v3 , c = c0(1 + εei(αx+ωt)) at y = h1,

(11)

∂u3∂y

= − αp√kp

(u3 − u2) , v3 = v0εei(αx+ωt) , c = c0εe

i(αx+ωt) at y = 0, (12)

where αp is the slip parameter, α is the stream-wise wave number, ω is the frequency parameter,ε is the perturbation parameter, and i represents the imaginary part.

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We now introduce the following non-dimensional quantities:

(x∗, y∗) =1

H(x, y), t∗ =

tv0H, (u∗i , v

∗i ) =

1

v0(ui, vi), p∗i =

piρiv20

, µ∗ =µ

µ2

,

h∗1 =h1H, h∗2 =

h2H, c∗ =

c

c0(i = 1, 2, 3),

where H, v0, and c0 are the characteristic height, velocity, and concentration respectively.

Making use of the non-dimensional variables in equations (1) to (6) and (8), neglecting the ’*’symbol gives the following.

Region I and Region II:

∂ui∂x

+∂vi∂y

= 0, (13)

∂ui∂t

+ ui∂ui∂x

+ vi∂ui∂y

= −∂pi∂x

+1

Rei

(∂2ui∂x2

+∂2ui∂y2

), (14)

∂vi∂t

+ ui∂vi∂x

+ vi∂vi∂y

= −∂pi∂y

+1

Rei

(∂2vi∂x2

+∂2vi∂y2

), (15)

where i = 1, 2.

Region III:

∂u3∂x

+∂v3∂y

= 0, (16)

∂u3∂t

+ u3∂u3∂x

+ v3∂u3∂y

= −∂p3∂x

+1

Re3

(∂

∂x

(µ∂u3∂x

)+

∂y

(µ∂u3∂y

))− σ2

Re3(µu3) , (17)

∂v3∂t

+ u3∂v3∂x

+ v3∂v3∂y

= −∂p3∂y

+1

Re3

(∂

∂x

(µ∂v3∂x

)+

∂y

(µ∂v3∂y

))− σ2

Re3(µv3) , (18)

R∂c

∂t+ u3

∂c

∂x+ v3

∂c

∂y=

1

Re3Sc

(∂2c

∂x2+∂2c

∂y2

), (19)

where Rei =ρiv0H

µirepresents the Reynolds number on the Regions I, II and III for i = 1, 2, 3,

respectively, Sc =µ2

ρ2Dis the Schmidt number and σ =

H√kp

is the porous parameter.

Accordingly the non-dimensional boundary conditions are:

u1 = 1 + εei(αx+ωt), v1 = 0 at y = 1, (20)

u1 = u2 , v1 = v2 ,∂p1∂x

=∂p2∂x

, µ1

(∂u1∂y

+∂v1∂x

)= µ2

(∂u2∂y

+∂v2∂x

)at y = h2, (21)

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∂u3∂y

= αpσ(u3 − u2) ,∂u3∂y

=∂u2∂y

,∂p2∂x

=∂p3∂x

, v2 = v3 , c = 1 + εei(αx+ωt) at y = h1,

(22)

∂u3∂y

= −αpσ(u3 − u2) , v3 = εei(αx+ωt) , c = εei(αx+ωt) at y = 0. (23)

3. Method of Solution

We decompose the flow and the concentration variables into steady base state quantities (des-ignated by upper-case letters) and two-dimensional linear perturbations (designated by a hat)as

(ui, vi, pi, c, µ) = (UBi(y), 0, PBi

(x), CB(y), µB(y))+(ui, vi, pi, c, µ)(y) ε ei(αx+ωt)+o(ε2), (24)

for i = 1, 2, 3. In equation (24), the base state viscosity is given by µB = ecB ln m, where,m = µ1

µ2is the viscosity ratio and the perturbed part viscosity is neglected for the sake of brevity.

Substituting (24) into equations (13) to (19), neglecting the higher order of (ε2) and equating thezeroth and first order terms, we obtain the following set of ordinary differential equations.

Base State:

By assuming a steady, parallel, fully developed flow, the base state equations obtained are:

d2UBi

dy2= gi, i = 1, 2. (25)

d

dy

(µB

dUB3

dy

)− σ2µBUB3 = g3, (26)

d2CBdy2

= 0, (27)

where gi = ReidPBi

dx(i = 1, 2, 3), subject to the boundary conditions,

UB1 = 1 at y = 1 , (28)

UB1 = UB2 ,dPB1

dx=dPB2

dx, m

dUB1

dy=dUB2

dyat y = h2 , (29)

dUB3

dy= αp σ (UB3 − UB2) ,

dPB2

dx=dPB3

dx,dUB3

dy=dUB2

dy, CB = 1 at y = h1 , (30)

dUB3

dy= −αp σ (UB3 − UB2) , CB = 0 at y = 0 . (31)

The solution of the above equations yielding the base state velocities and concentration are

UB1 =g12y2 + g4y + g5, (32)

UB2 =g22y2 + g6y + g7, (33)

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UB3 = g11eg9y + g12e

g10y + g13m− y

h1 , (34)

CB =y

h1. (35)

The required constants gi (i = 4 to 13) and related constants gi (i = 14 to 19) and fi (i = 1 to 9)

are defined in the Appendix. Assuming uniform pressure (p1 = p2 = p3) in all the threeregions, the dimensionless pressure gradient is determined satisfying the condition

∫ h10UB3dy +∫ h2

h1UB2dy +

∫ 1

h2UB1dy = 1.

Perturbed Part:

Restricting our attention to the real parts of the solutions for the perturbed quantities, re-expressingthem in terms of the stream-function (ui, vi) = (φiy,−φix) for i = 1, 2, 3 and eliminating thepressure perturbations yields the following set of equations (after suppressing hat (ˆ) symbols):

φi′v+[Rei tan(αx+ ωt) [ω + αUBi

]− α2 + α2 tan2(αx+ ωt)]φi

′′

+[Reiα

2 tan3(αx+ ωt) [ω + αUBi]−Reiα tan(αx+ ωt)U

′′

Bi− α4 tan2(αx+ ωt)

]φi = 0,

(36)

for i = 1, 2.

φ3′v+ 2µ

Bφ3′′′+[µ

′′

B +Re3 tan(αx+ ωt) [ω + αUB3 ] + µBα2 tan2(αx+ ωt)− µBα

2 − µBσ2]φ3

′′

+[α2 tan2(αx+ ωt)− α2 − σ2

Bφ′

3 + [ Re3α2 tan3(αx+ ωt) [ω + αUB3 ]

−Re3α tan(αx+ ωt)U′′

B3− α2 tan2(αx+ ωt)

[α2 + σ2

]µB ]φ3 = 0,

(37)

c′′+[Re3Sc tan(αx+ ωt) [ωR + αUB3 ]− α2

]c = Re3Scα tan(αx+ ωt)C

Bφ3, (38)

where the prime ( ′ ) denotes differentiation with respect to y.

The above equations (36) to (38) are solved numerically subject to the boundary conditionsoutlined below.

φ′

1 = 1, φ1 = 0 at y = 1, (39)

φ′

1 = φ′

2, φ1 = φ2, m(φ′′

1 − α2 tan2(αx+ ωt)φ1) = φ′′

2 − α2 tan2(αx+ ωt)φ2,

Re2

′′′

1 +[Re1 tan(αx+ ωt) [ω + αUB1 ]− α2

1 −Re1α tan(αx+ ωt)U′

B1φ1

]= Re1

′′′

2 +[Re2 tan(αx+ ωt) [ω + αUB2 ]− α2

2 −Re2α tan(αx+ ωt)U′

B2φ2

]at y = h2 ,

(40)

φ′′

3 = αpσ(φ′

3 − φ′

2), φ2 = φ3, φ′′

3 = φ′′

2 ,

Re3

′′′

2 +[Re2 tan(αx+ ωt) [ω + αUB2 ]− α2

2 −Re2α tan(αx+ ωt)U′

B2φ2

]= Re2 [ µBφ

′′′

3 + µ′

Bφ′′

3 +[Re3 tan(αx+ ωt) [ω + αUB3 ]− µB(α

2 + σ2)]φ

3

−Re3α tan(αx+ ωt)U′

B3φ3 ] , c = 1 at y = h1 ,

(41)

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φ′′

3 = −αpσ(φ′

3 − φ′

2), φ3 = 1, c = 1 at y = 0 . (42)

4. Results and Discussion

We have performed computations for various pertinent parameters to understand the nature ofspread of oil and its characteristics in the two-phase flow. Some of the qualitative interestingfeatures are presented graphically.

0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.00.0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0

u

y

m=38

m=32

m=26

Figure 2: Effect of viscosity ratio on axial velocity

0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.00.0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0

u

y

Σ=3.5

Σ=3.0

Σ=

Figure 3: Effect of porous parameter on axial velocity

0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.00.0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

c

y

Sc=10

Sc=5

Sc=2

Sc=1

Sc=

Figure 4: Effect of Schmidt number on concentration distribution

The axial velocity profiles for different viscosity ratio and porous parameter values are exhibitedin Figures 2 and 3. The concentration distributions are described in Figures 4 to 8 for differentSchmidt number, retardation factor, viscosity ratio, porous and slip parameter values. The surfaceplots for both the velocity and concentration are pictured in Figures 9 and 10.

The velocity of oil for different viscosity ratios is displayed in Figure 2. The effect of viscosityratio enhances the velocity in region I and II. It is observed that the viscosity ratio is moresignificant in the region III. Here we see that the viscosity ratio enhances the velocity in thelower subsurface and suppresses the velocity in the upper subsurface. Physically as the viscosityratio increases the fluid becomes more viscous reducing the velocity in the upper subsurface.

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0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.00.0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

c

y

R=4

R=3

R=

Figure 5: Effect of retardation factor on concentration distribution

0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.00.0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

c

y

m=38

m=32

m=

Figure 6: Effect of viscosity ratio on concentration distribution

Figure 3 show the velocity of oil for different porous parameter. It is seen that the effect of porousparameter are similar to that of the viscosity ratio. The discontinuity in the slope of the axialvelocity at the fluid-porous interface is due to the slip effect. In the upper subsurface, the velocitydecreases for increasing porous parameter indicating the fact that the effect of porosity is to retardthe flow. This is due to the frictional drag resistance against the flow that decelerates the fluid flowin the porous region. As the permeability is inversely proportional to porous parameter, increasein porous parameter is due to decrease in permeability. The result agrees with the statement ofJohnson et al. (1989) which states that the contaminants (the term ”contaminants” is used broadlyincluding NAPL in their study) move rapidly along the layers with higher permeability and moreslowly along the lower permeability layers.

The effect of decreasing the value of Schmidt number from 10 to 0.1, thereby rendering the flowmore diffusive, while keeping rest of the parameters unaltered can be seen through Figure 4.The waviness in the concentration distribution for higher Schmidt number indicates decreasingrelative significance of diffusion through an increase in Schmidt number.

From Figure 5, it can be observed that the variation of the retardation factor also has a profoundeffect on the concentration profile as the sorption between oil components and soil surface playsan important role in the transport of oil. It can be noticed that the retardation factor R retardsthe oil concentration which means that at higher concentrations, retardation factor is less and atlower concentrations, retardation factor is greater.

The results of the present analysis agrees with the similar experimental results of Johnson et al.(1989) stating that the contaminant concentration arriving at a certain point at a certain time isless than it would have been for a conservative (non-retarded) contaminant. They did not considerthe coupling and variable viscosity, which are included in our study.

Figure 6 describing the variation of viscosity contrast on concentration is found to be invariant.

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0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.00.0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

c

y

Σ=3.5

Σ=3.0

Σ=

Figure 7: Effect of porous parameter on concentration distribution

0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.00.0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

c

y

Αp=0.1

Αp=0.05

Αp=0.02

Figure 8: Effect of slip parameter on concentration distribution

The effect of porous parameter on the concentration profile is illustrated through Figure 7. Itreveals that porous parameter enhances the concentration in the subsurface. Figure 8 represent-ing the slip parameter effect on concentration shows that the slope of concentration remainsremarkably linear, indicating approximately constant spreading.

The spatiotemporal evolution of axial velocity and concentration surface plots are depicted inFigures 9 and 10, respectively. A surface plot is used to explore the potential relationship betweenthe predictor variables (x and t) and the response variable (axial velocity and concentration)represented by a smooth surface. Based on the regression model, the surface plot provides a clearerconcept of the response surface. Figure 9 reveals that velocity of oil accelerates linearly withaxial length. From the Figure 10, we come with the understanding that as the color gets darker,the response increases providing the information that there is a decrease in the concentration ofthe spilled oil through the subsurface.

5. Conclusion

In the present study the movement of oil flow and its characteristics in the subsurface are exam-ined through a two-phase flow. The governing non-linear equations are solved by linearizationtechnique wherein the flow is assumed to be in two parts, i.e. a base part and a perturbed part.The exact solutions are obtained for the base part, the perturbed part is solved numerically andthe results are represented graphically for various governing parameters such as Schmidt number,retardation factor, viscosity ratio, porous and slip parameter.

In general, the analysis of the obtained results showed that the flow field is significantly influencedby these parameters, in particular, the effect is more significant in the upper subsurface. Thiscan be identified by the Figures 2 and 3 representing the velocity of oil. Here we observe that

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Figure 9: Spatiotemporal evolution for velocity surface plot

Figure 10: Spatiotemporal evolution for concentration surface plot

the velocity of oil decreases for increase in both the viscosity ratio and porous parameter inthe upper subsurface. This agrees with the result of Johnson et al. (1989) which states that thecontaminants move rapidly along the layers with higher permeability and more slowly along thelower permeability layers.

The concentration of oil in the subsurface is invariant for different viscosity ratio and theporous parameter enhances the concentration. We also see that the retardation factor retardsthe concentration of oil. These results of the present analysis agree with the results for a onedimensional problem encountered by Johnson et al. (1989) which states that the contaminantconcentration arriving at a certain point at a certain time is less than it would have been for aconservative (non-retarded) contaminant.

These investigations provide valuable information regarding the source, extent, and strength ofsubsurface contamination, its potential impact on groundwater, and implications for remediation.This model serves as a basis to monitor the rate of hydrocarbon contaminant in unsaturated soil,migrating through multi-flow in the soil-water environment.

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362 N.P. Ratchagar and S.V. Hemalatha

Acknowledgment:

The authors gratefully acknowledge the University Grants Commission, New Delhi, India, forthe financial support through the BSR grant no.: F.4-1/2006(BSR)/7-254/2009(BSR). The authorsalso thank the reviewers for their comments and valuable suggestions which improved the paperconsiderably.

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Faust, C.R., Guswa, J.H. and Mercer,J.W. (1989). Simulation of three-dimensional flow ofimmiscible fluids within and below the unsaturated zone, Water Resources Research, Vol.25, No. 12, pp. 2449-2464.

Hochmuth, D.P. and Sunada, D.K. (1985). Ground-water model of two-phase immiscible flowin coarse material, Groundwater, Vol. 23, No. 5, pp. 617-626.

Johnson, R.L., Keely, J.F., Palmer, C.D., Suflita, J.M. and Fish, W. (1989). Transport and fateof contaminants in the subsurface, Seminar Publication, EPA/625/4-89/019.

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Li, X.K. and Zienkiewicz, O.C. (1990). A numerical model for immiscible two-phase fluid flowin a porous medium and its time domain, International Journal for Numerical Methods inEngineering, Vol. 30, No. 6, pp. 1195-1212.

Mukherjee, B. and Shome, P. (2009). An analytic solution of fingering phenomenon arising influid flow through porous media by using techniques of calculus of variation and similaritytheory, Journal of Mathematics Research, Vol. 1, No. 2, pp. 64-72.

Osborne, M. and Sykes, J. (1986). Numerical modeling of immiscible organic transport at theHyde Park landfill, Water Resources Research, Vol. 22, No. 1, pp. 25-33.

Panday, S., Wu, Y.S., Huyakorn, P.S. and Springer, E.P. (1994). A three-dimensional multiphaseflow model for assessing NAPL contamination in porous and fractured media, 2. Porousmedium simulation examples, Journal of Contaminant Hydrology, 16, pp. 131-156.

Rahman, N.A. and Lewis, R.W. (1999). Finite element modelling of multiphase immiscibleflow in deforming porous media for subsurface systems, Computers and Geotechnics, Vol.24, No. 1, pp. 41-63.

Sabbah, I., Rebhun, M. and Gerstl, Z. (2004). An independent prediction of the effect ofdissolved organic matter on the transport of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, Journal ofContaminant Hydrology, Vol. 75, No. 1-2, pp. 55-70.

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Appendix

g4 =1

g15(f9 − (g9 + αpσ)g11 − (g10 − αp σ)g12)

g5 = f1 − g4

g6 = mg4 − f3

g7 = (h2 − 1− h2m)g4 − (f2 − f1 − h2f3)

g8 =ln[m]

h1

g9 =−g8 +

√(g28 + 4σ2)

2

g10 =−g8 −

√(g28 + 4σ2)

2

g11 =1

g16(g14f7 +mf8 − g17g12)

g12 =g14g18f7 +mf8g18 − g15g16f8 − g14g16f9

g17g18 − g16g19

g13 =g3h

21

(ln[m] + g9h1)(ln[m] + g10h1)

g14 = −αpσh1m+ g15

g15 = −αpσ(h2 − 1− h2m)

g16 = g14g9eg9h1 +m(g9 − αpσ)e

g9h1

g17 = g14g10eg10h1 +m(g10 − αpσ)e

g10h1

g18 = g15(g9 − αpσ)eg9h1 − g14(g9 + αpσ)

g19 = g15(g10 − αpσ)eg10h1 − g14(g10 + αpσ)

f1 = 1− g12

f2 =h222(g2 − g1)

f3 = h2(g2 −mg1)

f4 = g2h1 +g8g13m

f5 =(g8 + αpσ)g13

m− αpσg2h

21

2f6 = (g8 − αpσ)g13

f7 = f4 − f3

f8 = f5 − αpσh1f3 − αpσ(f2 − f1 − h2f3)

f9 = f6 − αpσ(f2 − f1 − h2f3)

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