2026-10-06T08:56:21Z https://api.figshare.com/v2/oai

oai:figshare.com:article/34042275 2026-10-01T09:57:05Z category_26971 item_type_1 month_year_10_2026

Experimental and Numerical Investigation of Multi-Regime Oil Leakage from Underwater Pipelines Pengfei Sun (22852190) Pollution and contamination not elsewhere classified Underwater pipeline oil spill,Oil spill numerical simulation <p dir="ltr">Oil leakage from submerged pipelines poses significant risks to aquatic environments and water resources. In this study, experimental investigations combined with numerical simulations were conducted to elucidate the multi-regime evolution and migration characteristics of underwater oil leakage. The effects of oil density, viscosity, leakage mass flow rate, orifice diameter, and water depth on oil-phase morphology, plume evolution, and surface arrival behavior were systematically analyzed. The experiments revealed three typical leakage regimes, including discrete-droplet flow, transitional-breakup, and atomized-plume, with increasing leakage intensity. A dimensionless regime map based on Reynolds (<i>Re</i>) and Ohnesorge (<i>Oh</i>) numbers was established to characterize the transition among different leakage states. According to the identified flow regimes, two numerical approaches were employed: the Volume of Fluid (VOF) method was used for droplet/jet-dominated leakage with resolvable oil-water interfaces, while the coupled VOF-Discrete Phase Model (VOF-DPM) approach was adopted for atomized leakage involving fine oil droplets. The numerical results showed good agreement with experimental observations in terms of oil morphology and migration behavior. Parametric analysis demonstrated that oil density was the dominant factor affecting surface arrival time, followed by water depth, orifice diameter, and leakage intensity. This study provides a flow-regime-dependent framework for understanding underwater oil migration and improving leakage assessment and response strategies.</p> 2026-10-01T09:57:05Z Image Figure 10.6084/m9.figshare.34042275.v1 https://figshare.com/articles/figure/Experimental_and_Numerical_Investigation_of_Multi-Regime_Oil_Leakage_from_Underwater_Pipelines/34042275 CC BY 4.0