Stability of non-Newtonian liquid/liquid flow submitted to imposed shear, application to oil-water emulsion

In case of an oil spill in a marine environment, an important aspect of an early response is to confine the oil spill and prevents it from getting dispersed. The objective of this master thesis project is to contribute to better understand the stability of a liquid/liquid flow subjected to imposed shear, as a toy model for a stratified or dispersed oil/water system. Both the rheological nature of the oil and the oil/water surface tension are key parameters. We intend to address this problem from a computational viewpoint using an advanced free academic code to perform numerous parallel simulations. A thorough analysis of the obtained data will help us to provide recommendations on how to design surfactants to guarantee flow stability and in turn to improve practical guidelines for an early oil spill response.

Faculty Supervisor:

Anthony Wachs

Student:

Seyed Hosseini

Partner:

BC Research Inc

Discipline:

Engineering - chemical / biological

Sector:

Oil and gas

University:

Program: