A model for simulating deepwater oil and gas blowouts - Part I: Theory and model formulation

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Abstract
A model developed to simulate the behavior of oil and gas accidentally released from deep water is presented. This model presents major modifications to a three-dimensional model developed earlier (Yapa and Zheng, 1997) that simulate the behaviour of oil from under water accidents (shallow water). In deepwater, the ultra-high pressure and cold temperature causes phase changes in gases. These combined with relatively strong currents in some deepwater regions presents extraordinary challenges to modeling jets/plumes from deepwater oil and gas blowouts. The present model incorporates the phase changes of gas, associated changes in thermodynamics and its impact on the hydrodynamics of the jet/plume. Hydrate formation, hydrate decomposition, gas dissolution, non-ideal behavior of the gas, and possible gas separation from the main plume due to strong cross currents are integrated with the jet/plume hydrodynamics and thermodynamics. This paper presents the complete model development and testing of various computational modules with available data. A companion paper presents the comparison of model results with three large-scale field experiments conducted in the Norwegian Sea.