Investigation of Deepwater horizon oil spill movement in the Gulf of Mexico

In this paper, the performance of the MIKE21 numerical model in modeling the dispersion and transport of spilt oil related to the Deep-Water Horizon oil platform disaster in the northern part of the Gulf of Mexico is studied. Our model predicts the distribution and movement of spilt oil based on the wind-waves, current flows and vorticities taking into account evaporation, emulsion, and absorption. In this research, two types of large scale and local scale models are considered. The radiation stress of the waves, the water level and the flow speed in the Gulf are modeled using a large-scale model. After calibration and verification, the large-scale model is used to extract the boundary conditions for the local scale model and the dispersion and transport of the spilt oil is done in the local model. The accuracy of the numerical simulation using MIKE21 are confirmed by comparisons to observed satellite images. Results showed that the length of the oil spill reached 55 kilometers and covered an area of 2,800 Km2 by April 25. After two weeks, the oil spill had apparently divided into two slicks, each with an area of about 2420 and 960 Km2, respectively. Eventually, by May 28, the slick area appeared to reach over 48,400 Km2 which much of the oil evaporated because it was lightweight oil. Meanwhile, the Deep-Water Horizon oil spill occurred in spring and summer seasons; we also consider possible results assuming that the spill occurred at other times, such as autumn or winter

The Optimization of Energy Supply Systems by Sequential Streamflow Routing Method and Invasive Weed Optimization Algorithm; Case Study: Karun II Hydroelectric Power Plant

Among the major sources of energy supply systems, hydroelectric power plants are more common. Energy supply during peak hours and less environmental issues are some of the most important advantages of hydroelectric power plants. In this study, designing parameters to supply maximum amount of energy was determined by using the simulation-optimization perspective and combination of IWO-WEAP models. Subsequently, the developed model has been applied for designing the Karun II hydroelectric power plant. The sequential streamflow routing method has been developed for obtaining energy in WEAP water resources management software. In addition the optimization algorithm has been applied to optimize the invasive weeds. To verify the performance of this method, obtained results for the firm energy were compared to those of the total energy. Using this method, for 1398 GWY (Giga watt per your) firm energy, the minimum and normal levels of operation were 668 and 672 m.a.s.l (meters above sea level), respectively, and the installation capacity calculated around 498 MW as optimal value

Investigating the vulnerability downstream area of Taleghan dam due to dam failure

Due to the immense damage caused by dam failure, especially dams constructed near large cities, it is necessary to consider the breaking phenomena as well as studying and designing different parts of the dam. For this purpose, the hydrograph of the outflow due to dam failure must be identified according to size of the fracture and then flood routing, and flood zone must be determined based on the downstream topography and morphology. The integration of hydraulic models and geographic information system is used to achieve this objective. In this research the effect of breaking Taleghan storage dam due to the slip of a pile of reservoir abutment and the creation of current wave toward the dam body as well as the vulnerability analysis due to the breaking of the dam on downstream lands was studied. At first, Taleghan dam failure for five different scenarios was modeled using the FLOW-3D numerical software and then the geometric data of the river was extracted using the ArcGIS software and modeling the flood due to dam failure was conducted in Hec-GeoRas model. Then, the risk analysis was performed for each break scenario of Taleghan dam. The results indicated that the maximum amount of inundation would occur in Razmian city at an approximate distance of 45 kilometers from Taleghan dam site