Validação numérica da percolação de derivados de petróleo em meios porosos utilizando o OpenFOAM

Abstract

Oil spills can have several consequences for both the aquatic and terrestrial environment. In addition to the toxicity caused by contact with living beings, the environment becomes inhospitable for the development of several species. One of the consequences is the percolation of oil in beach sand, thus making its removal and treatment difficult. Therefore, computational modeling can be used to investigate the effects of oil percolation in sandy beds. Therefore, this work aims to evaluate and numerically validate the percolation of petroleum derivatives in porous media, through a systematic evaluation of the Darcy-Forchheimer equation with the aid of the software OpenFOAM v. 10. The studies were carried out through exploratory evaluations, sensitivity analysis and central composite planning, making it possible to evaluate different behaviors in the coordinates (x, y, z), in which the parameters assumed Dxz, Dy, Fxz and Fy values. The numerical study was carried out based on experimentally measured data, where automotive lubricating oil samples with different viscosities were used (5.73e-5 m²/s², 7.72e-5 m²/s² and 1.64e-4 m²/s²). Thus, it was possible to assess that the parameters D and F of the Darcy-Forchheimer equation are directly related to the intensity of oil percolation in the porous medium, however, individually they have a low level of significance. According to ANOVA, the Dy and Fxz parameters of the simulations presented mean squared error ≤0.93% in relation to the experimental data. In view of this, the results found were satisfactory, demonstrating the effectiveness of the methodology addressed using the CFD technique, allowing the obtaining of equations for predicting the percolation depth and wettability diameter, allowing the study to be applied in future cases of spillage.