Experimental investigation of free-rising characteristics of spilled oil droplets in natural waters

Abstract

This work focuses on investigating the dynamics of different types of oil droplets rising freely in water columns. Fifteen different types of oils were selected to cover most of the conventional oils. The particle size range of the study is 1.41∼13.58 mm, which can cover the largest oil droplet size that may occur in the real environment. Investigation results show that oil droplet characteristics greatly influence the dynamics process of oil droplet motion. The characteristics which play a dominant role will change as the oil droplet particle size increases. Meanwhile, a set of computational models applicable to the terminal velocity and drag coefficient of oil droplets in the range of 20 < Re < 1200 in a non-pure system are obtained by organizing the experimental data and comparing with the traditional correlation equation, respectively. The models involve dimensionless parameters such as Eo, Mo, and We numbers with fitting coefficients up to 0.984.