Simulação numérica do perfil de contaminação de petróleo e derivados em meios porosos não consolidados

Abstract

Faced with the growing influence of oil market in global geopolitics and considering the perspective of the potential environmental risks that this industry provides, this current study proposes to numerically evaluate, by computer simulation, the contamination profile in an oil flow problem, understanding all of the element’s properties, and how it impacts the oil flow behavior. Starting from the master's thesis named as “Analysis of Flow Behavior of Petroleum Derivatives in Sandy Soil on the Coast of Alagoas”. Going through the material selection and description of its structural and rheological properties, a simulation in focus in this work, reproduces a system formed by two concentric cylinders, one, fulfilling the role of the unconsolidated porous medium, and a smaller one, representing the continuous injection of oil. Having tried to simulate the model through the ANSYS simulator, resulted in a slow and high processing cost model. To overcome this obstacle, it was decided to build the model in the OpenFOAM solver, which makes it possible to parameterize a lightest model, without necessarily losing accuracy. Based on the sand bed characteristics (density, average granulometry, permeability and porosity), the numerical model was validated and later it was varied to observe the influence of these properties on the fluid dynamic behavior. As a result, it was possible to check that the heavier derivate leaked the most on the radial direction than on the axial direction. On the other way, the lightest derivate developed the flow mostly on the axial vertical direction than on the radial direction.