CFD modelling and analysis of the trajectory and behaviour of oil pollutant particles in the ghanaian territorial waters
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Date
2020-04-28
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Scientific African
Abstract
Petroleum activities like production, transportation and storage have placed Ghanaian waters among zones negatively impacted by human activities. These places are occupied by
human occupations and its associated risks. Oil pollution in the environment affects biota
and degrades human health. Predictive and descriptive tools have made the assessment of
this situation possible for water quality management. In addition, these tools help in contingency planning in dealing with potential threats in the environment. In this research,
the MOHID hydrodynamic numerical model was used to render forecast capacity for the
possibility of finding susceptible areas to spilled oil particles in the Ghanaian waters from
human activities around the region. The concept of nesting domains was used to reduce
the cost and processing time (i.e. CPU) time, for computation. The hydrodynamics was
modelled under three levels and validated with an average deviation of 14.00% and correlation factors above 0.80 from measured results. To locate possible shorelines susceptible
to oil particles, random locations and oil exploration sites were used as discharge points
for the simulations. In all, about 8 locations were included for the research and they are as
follows: (2.9 oE, 4.4oN), (1.7oE, 4.6oN), (0.9oE, 4.9oN), (0.9oE, 4.6oN), (0.3oE, 5.2oN), (0.3oE,
4.6oN), (0.5oE, 5.5oN) and (0.5oE, 4.6oN). In conclusion, it took the oil particles 2 days, 6
hours; 1 day, 17 hours; 3 days; 4 days; 1 day; 4 days, 1 hour; and 22 hours for the first
seven locations to get beached at the shore. For particles located at (0.5oE, 5.5oN), they
were beached outside the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of Ghana. The study has revealed
that the territorial waters of Ghana acts as beaching sites for oil pollutants independent of
the discharge location.
Description
Keywords
Oil production, trajectory and fate of oil spill, MOHID hydrodynamic model, forecast capacity, ACE: Energy and Environmental Sustainability, University of Energy & Natural Resources, Power, Ghana