Numerical Prediction of Oil Mineral Aggregates Dispersion in the Estuary Of ST-Lawrence River

As part of the environment of the St-Lawrence River, the Canadian Coast Guard team and the URPEI research team at École Polytechnique de Montréal carried out a numerical simulation based on the Eulerian-Lagrangian formulation for the dispersion of oil-mineral aggregates (OMA) in a turbulent flow produced by a propeller ship. This study is part of a larger project to assess the effectiveness of using fine clay minerals as a natural dispersant of petroleum in ice. The interest is to study the effect of an ice cover on the dispersal potential of a typical winter flow field. To highlight the potential dispersion, two hydrodynamic scenarios are chosen, with and without the presence of an ice cover. For each scenario, the calculation results are presented for a selection of particle densities in order to assess the model by comparison of the OMA distribution statistics in the water column.