JOURNAL OF

MARINE
SYSTEMS
ELSEVIER Journal of Marine Systems4 (1994) 453-471

Modeling oil spills in a river-lake system

P . D . Y a p a , H . T . S h e n , K.S. A n g a m m a n a
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Clarkson University, Potsdam, N Y 13699-5710. USA
(Received May 10, 1993;revised and accepted September 22, 1993)

Abstract

A general model shell, ROSS3, is developed for simulating oil spills in complex river systems using techniques
which have not been previously exploited in oil spill models. ROSS3's new approach has several advantages over the
approach to model oil spills in the past: (a) The use of a time-varying boundary-fitted coordinate system that allows
accurate accounting for complex river/lake boundary as well as the river boundary changes as its water levels
fluctuate; (b) The ability to confine two-dimensional hydrodynamic computations to a limited river reach; (c) The
ability to interactively layout the channel networks for setting up the model, define extra cross sections to increase
the accuracy if needed, in addition to the traditional data entry and visualization interfaces.
ROSS3 is a two-layer two-dimensional oil spill model that can simulate the mechanisms of advection, horizontal
diffusion, mechanical spreading, shoreline deposition, evaporation, dissolution, vertical mixing, resurfacing and
sinking. In ROSS3 spilled oil may be a surface slick or suspended oil droplets, or a combination of both. Both free
surface and ice cover conditions can be simulated. The flow conditions can be varied and the unsteady flow model
can be run within ROSS3 to simulate the flow conditions in both the river and the lake. The ice conditions can be
added or removed from the model input using easy interactive procedures.

I. Introduction Previous river oil spill models are R I V E R -

Increased inland navigation and major oil stor-
age facilities along rivers have increased the risks
of oil spills in inland waterways. A major oil spill
in a river can cause long term damage to the
aquatic environment for fishery and wildlife,
recreational facilities, and poses threats to water
supplies for areas along the river. To prepare for
such accidents, many governing authorities have
prepared oil spill contingency plans. An impor-
tant element in these programs is the use of
computer models to predict the location and dis-
tribution of oil to assist the containment and
recovery of the oil so that the damage can be
minimized.
SPILL (Tsahalis, 1979), WPMB (Fingas and
Sydor, 1980), ROSS (Shen and Yapa, 1988), NR-
D A M (Reed et al., 1991) and ROSS2 (Shen et
al., 1991; Yapa et al., 1992). R I V E R S P I L L is a
one-dimensional surface slick transport model in
which the oil slick is assumed to be circular in
shape. WPMB and ROSS are two-dimensional
surface models which include components to
compute velocity distributions. N R D A M was de-
veloped for damage assessment due to oil spills.
N R D A M is a three-dimensional model but has a
uniform velocity profile in the vertical direction
of the water column. It uses externally supplied
flow data computed for the average conditions.
ROSS2 is a two-dimensional two layer model

0924-7963/94/$07.00 1994 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved

SSDI 0924-7963(93)E0028-U
454 P.D. Yapa /Journal of Marine Systems 4 (1994) 453-471

with an integrated flow hydraulic module. ROSS2
can simulate oil spills under unsteady flow condi-
tions and has been applied to several long rivers.
ROSS2 is also being used for real time simula-
tion. All these models use rectangular grids. A
detailed review of these models is given in Yapa
et al. (1993).
In this paper a mathematical model (ROSS3)
is developed for simulating oil spills in complex
river-lake networks. The model is applied to a
hydrodynamically complex study area shown in
Figs. 1 and 2. The modeling domain consists of
the St. Clair River and Lake. The physico-chem-
ical mechanisms included are similar to those of
(Shen et al., 1991; Yapa et al., 1991), but has
much improved simulations for oil spreading un-
der ice cover using current theories. Moreover,
ROSS3 uses a new modeling approach that does
not require a standard rectangular grid system or
fixed shoreline information. This new approach is
not only capable of closely describing the time
dependency and irregularity of river boundaries,
but also more efficient computationally. The new
technique presents significant advantages over the
old techniques and therefore presents an impor-
tant improvement in modeling oil spills and other
pollutants in hydrodynamically complex regions.
ROSS3 is much more integrated than any previ-
ous oil spill model because of its ability to inter-
actively layout the channel networks for setting
up the model, define extra cross sections to in-
crease the accuracy if needed, in addition to the
traditional data entry and visualization interfaces.
In one shell it provides the complete model appli-
cation to a given region: from the digitized data
of the domain through hydrodynamic models to
the oil spill model.
2. Needs of river oil spill models
The modelling of oil spills in rivers presents
problems that are not typical for ocean oil spill
models although ocean models have their own
complexities that are not typical in river condi-
tions. The special needs of river oil spill models
can be summarized as follows:

St.MarysRiver
ConnectingChannels
aultLocks
(US.) CANADA
2",

-- ~-- ( ~-/ /?,.~ iWelland ~ ~r

I
I // ~ ( k..,,.' / ~ Carla I ana,\
/' Ontariof "

Detroit~ ~

St Clair-DetrottRivers- - a
ConnectingChannels
UNITED STATES
Fig. 1. Great Lakes Area.
 P.D. Yapa /Journal of Marine Systems 4 (1994) 453-471 455

- Rivers have large current velocities with
large variations across the river width. Rivers also
encounter flow divisions due to natural islands or
artificial obstructions. Therefore, it is necessary
to model the flow velocities accurately.
- Rivers are confined water bodies with sharp
curves and islands. The oil spill reaches a shore
shortly after the spill. The movement of the oil
slick down the river is profoundly affected by the
oil interaction with shores. The oil spill model
therefore, should have a good computational
scheme to detect the parcels reaching the shore
including the complex shoreline shapes and simu-
late the oil interaction with the shore in a physi-
cally realistic manner.
- Discharges in many rivers in North America
are controlled. Therefore, it is natural to model
what happens to the oil spill if the flow is in-

Sal, n i a

Ha~ysvi 1 1 ~

~\ST. CLAIR
~.) RIUER

,0
,/

Algonacl~Po~t La~bton

OHTARIO

NICHIGAN

Crosse Point

LAXE ST. CLAIR

Detroit

Fig. 2. T h e St. Clair River-Lake System.

456 P.D. Yapa / Journal of Marine Systems 4 (1994) 453-471

creased or decreased. To be able to model oil
spills under such "what if" conditions requires
that the oil spill model be run in unsteady flow
conditions.
- In rivers with drastic water level fluctuations
the shoreline location changes rapidly. The oil
spill model should be capable of detecting these
changes as the water level changes to determine
the extent of the slick area.
3. Computing river velocities
The two-dimensional velocity distribution of
the flow is required for simulating slick transport.
The flow distribution in a river may be obtained
by solving the depth-integrated shallow water
wave equations on a rectangular grid (Leen-
dertse, 1970; Hamilton et al., 1982). Because of
the complex shapes of rivers and the dominant
velocity component in the longitudinal direction,
the results from the river hydrodynamic models
are generally improved when the the computa-
tions use boundary fitted co-ordinates (e.g. John-
son et al., 1989; Sheng and Choi, 1989; Spaulding
and Liang, 1989). All of the models above are
very time consuming for long and complex shaped
water bodies. As an alternative Shen and Yapa
(1988) used a quasi two-dimensional stream-tube
method to compute the flow distribution in rivers.
Although the particular implementation of
Shen and Yapa (1988) is simple and robust, its
implementation had several difficulties. The
method assigned the computed two-dimensional
flow distribution to a rectangular grid before solv-
ing the transport equations, thus resulting in a
discretization error as shown in Fig. 3, especially
in a river where the flow velocities are dominant
in the direction of the flow. These discretization
errors can be significant when dealing with oil
interaction along the shorelines. This inaccuracy
may be reduced by making the grid size finer, but
a two-dimensional representation of a river with
a very fine rectangular grid requires inordinate
amounts of computer memory. A rectangular grid
system is not the best way to represent irregular
shapes like a river shoreline. All previous two-di-
mensional river models that represented a water
body through a rectangular grid system had the
same problems. The method could not account
for river shape changes with water level fluctua-
tions, and adhoc treatment is required for han-
dling slick transport around islands. In ROSS3
both of these shortcomings are eliminated. The
efficiency of the model is also improved by com-

5
S rixeaRectanguGri
lardSystem
Comi?ated Velocities Are Assigned To A

amTube
B o u ~
Fig. 3. Mapping rivervelocitiesto a Cartesian Grid System.
 P.D. Yapa/ Journal of Marine Systems 4 (1994) 453-471 457

puting two-dimensional flow velocities only 3.1. Governing equations

around regions where the oil slick is located.
Details of these improvements are given in the The time-dependent discharge and water level
next section. distributions along the river are first obtained by

a Parcel movementat branches is

~ , Complicatedbecause of the existence of
two choices, and because section numbering
Cross Sections ~ can no longer be sequential

//

~uThe Water Levels

ctuate, Cellboundaries
Can Slide

FLOW b -. CC K

Fig. 4. The coordinate systemused: (a) overview:(b) segment detail.

458 P.D. Yapa /Journal of Marine Systems 4 (1994) 453-471

distribution of the flow can be determined using

cross sectional geometry. Shen and A c k e r m a n
K (1980) established the validity of this procedure
r=l " ~ ' , ~ Sl RI.. by comparing computed and measured flow dis-
tributions in several rivers. The ratio of dis-
charges between the entire cross section and a
L partial cross section can be expressed as follows:
M
Qp A R 2/3
--p--p
Q AR2/3 (3)
W
in which, Qp = discharge through a partial cross
sectional a r e a Ap; Q = the total discharge
through the entire cross section; and Ap and Rp
Fig. 5. Enlarged view of cell KMNL from Fig. 4b. are the area and hydraulic radius of the partial
cross section, respectively.
Based on the computed distribution of cumu-
solving the one-dimensional free surface flow lative discharge across the section, Qp, any point
equations using a 4-point implicit method. along the width of a cross section may be as-
OQ aA signed a stream function qJ, where
--+--=0 (1)
Ox Ot 4t = Qp (4)
OQ [Q]20A 2Q OQ OH
/ ---- +gA--
at A 1 7 7 x + A Ox Ox 3.2. Determination of velocity at a point

- g A ( S o - Sf) = 0
in which, Q = discharge; x = longitudinal dis-
tance along the river; A = flow cross-sectional
area; H = water level; S O= bed slope; g = gravity
and Sf = friction slope. The friction slope is com-
puted by Manning's equation.
For any channel cross-section, the transverse
(2)
The discussion so far allows one to compute
the velocity distribution at pre-specified cross sec-
tions. Oil spill modeling using Lagrangian parcels
requires that the velocity at any point in the flow
domain is either known or computable.
In the present model, ROSS3, a general data
structure that is capable of representing the full

21 7 18 17 5 13 .~

~~
8 1920 6
14,
/\

12
3
II

9
Fig. 6. A branching river with extra cross sections inserted.
 P.D. Yapa /Journal of Marine Systems 4 (1994) 453-471
complexity of a river network is developed. The
basic building blocks of the proposed system are
the cross sections placed along the length of the
river (Fig. 4). The position and orientation of the
cross sections are fixed. However, the end points
are allowed to slide along the length of the cross
sections, so that they are always maintained at
the water line even when the water level fluctu-
ates. Adjacent cross sections define cells. Cell
boundaries can change with water level fluctua-
tions. Computations are limited to cells that con-
tain oil parcels.
Simple channels (with no branches) do not
pose any problems. In this case, the cross sections
may be n u m b e r e d sequentially along the direc-
tion of flow as shown in the right hand portion of
Fig. 4a. Fig. 4b shows the detail of a cell. Fig. 5
shows a detailed view of the plane KMNL from
Fig. 4b. The oil parcel movement is complicated
at branches. Firstly because of the existence of
more than one choice of cell for a parcel to move
to. Secondly because cell numbers can no longer
be sequential along the length of the river. So a
simple array or linked list is not capable of han-
dling the representation.
What is needed is a representation scheme
that divides the river into cells so that a normal-
ized local coordinate system holds generally, even
at branches. This difficulty may be resolved by
inserting two imaginary sections such as 24 and
25 as shown in Fig. 6. Section 24 now covers the
lower part of section 12, and section 25 covers the
u p p e r part. Now any point on the river is in a
cell, which is uniquely defined by the cross sec-
tion on the upstream side of it. This scheme of
dividing a river into quadrilateral cells has diffi-
culties when the river divides into three or more
branches at a given point. Three or more branch
condition can be implemented using the same
method by making the branching points slightly
spaced apart.
If the cross sections are sufficiently close to-
gether, it is reasonable to approximate that the
total discharge (except at flow divisions) at two
adjacent cross sections is the same. Then the flow
between a pair of cross sections can be divided
into a n u m b e r of stream tubes, whose boundaries
are assumed to be straight lines. Velocity distri-
459
bution between the two adjacent cross sections
can then be calculated based on the stream tube
method.
The lines KL and MN in Fig. 5 represent
stream tube boundaries. This area KMNL is
termed a sub cell. Any point within the sub cell
K M N L may now be defined by a unique coordi-
nate (r,s) such that
MR1 NR2
r m - (5)
and
KS 1 MS 2
S
KL MN (6)
i.e. any point on the line RIR 2 has the same r
value. The same is true for the s value along
S1S 2. The direction of the velocity at point p is
taken to be along the $ = constant line RIPR 2,
and the magnitude of this velocity, V at point P is
given by
~ 2 -- ~1
V= [ ( 1 - s)IGvI + sLX]h (7)
in which $1 is the stream function along MN and
$2 is the stream function along KL. The water
depth h at the point p is given by the bilinear
interpolation formula
h=hM(1-r)(1-s)+hKr(1-s)
+hLrs + h u ( l - - r ) s (8)
in which hu, hK, hL, h N a r e the depths at points
N, K, L and N respectively.
4. Computing lake velocities
The lake hydrodynamics are computed using
the rigid-lid circulation model developed and ver-
ified by Schwab et al. (1981). Shen et al. (1987,
1990) used this rigid-lid model in their oil spill
model for Lake St. Clair. The rigid-lid model uses
vertically integrated shallow water equations with
Coriolis effects. The major assumptions in the
lake circulation model are as follows: Lake is
shallow and well mixed; Free surface fluctuations
are not considered; Nonlinear acceleration terms
460 P.D. Yapa / Journal of Marine Systems 4 (1994) 453-471
neglected; Horizontal diffusion of m o m e n t u m ne-
glected. The lake hydrodynamic model operates
with a fixed rectangular grid system, and does not
take into account the surface area changes when
the water level fluctuates. The errors introduced
by this approximation are negligible because the
lake velocities change very little with water level
fluctuations. The oil parcel transport in the lake
however, takes into account the water level
changes in the lake.
5. Physico-chemical processes
Oil may enter a water body either as a surface
spill or an underwater discharge. Once in the
water body, oil is subjected to a number of
physico-chemical processes that will determine
the ultimate fate of the oil. These processes along
with the relative time scales involved have been
discussed in detail elsewhere (Mackay and
McAuliffe, 1988; Shen and Yapa, 1988). Part of
the spilled oil forms a surface slick which is
moved about by the action of winds, currents, and
waves. Evaporation causes significant loss of oil
mass. In turbulent waters, oil is broken up into
globules and patches. These patches and globules
partially disperse into the water column to form
oil-in-water emulsion. Some of these oil globules
may resurface. In doing so they trap water in
between oil and form a very thick emulsion that is
usually called the water-in-oil emulsion. The
physics of formation of emulsions during oil spills
is poorly understood. Winds, currents, and waves
may drive oil onto beaches or river banks. Oil can
get attached to suspended particulate matter and
slowly settle to the bottom. For spills in rivers,
the presence of hydraulic structures, such as locks
and dams also affect the fate and transport of oil.
In addition, photo-chemical reactions and micro-
bial biodegradation change the character of the
oil and reduce the amount of oil present in the
long term. Therefore, these last two processes are
not considered in the present model.
The transport and fate of oil spilled in water is
governed by the above mentioned inter-related
physico-chemical processes. O f these the trans-
port is governed by the advection diffusion pro-
cess, but is directly affected by other processes
such as mechanical spreading and shoreline de-
position. Although the hydrodynamics may be
affected by the presence of the oil slick, there has
been no study to quantify these effects.
The governing equations and the descriptions
of the mechanisms are similar to the ones given
by Yapa et al. (1992) and Shen et al. (1991).
However, in this study improved formulations
were used for oil spreading under ice, based on
the works of Yapa and Chowdhury (1990) and
Weerasuriya and Yapa (1993). The shoreline de-
position simulation is also improved through the
implementation of maximum holding capacity,
based on Gundlach's (1987) work.
5.1. Governing equations
The equation governing the motion of oil in
the surface layer can be written as
OC~ a 0
at
-- + (L,sCs)
(usCs) +
o l aCs)
- ax [ Dx ~-x
a(
aCsl
+ -~y D y a )---~-]
+ alVbCc l z=o - y C s
-C,~SE+Ms(X, y) -Ds(x, y) (9)
in which, x, y and t = space and time variables;
z = vertical coordinate measured downward from
the water surface; C s = the local volumetric oil
concentration in the surface layer per unit sur-
face area; c,, = local volumetric concentration of
oil in the suspended layer per unit volume of
water; u L, and L,s = the components of surface
drift velocity in x and y directions, respectively;
D x and Dy = diffusion coefficients in the x and y
directions, respectively; a l = c o e f f i c i e n t repre-
senting probability of deposition of an oil droplet
reaching the water surface; V b = the buoyant ve-
locity of suspended oil globules; 3' = coefficient
describing the rate at which the surface oil is
dispersed and dissolved into the water column;
C a = area concentration of oil in the surface layer;
S E = rate of evaporation and dissolution per unit
area of the surface slick; M s = effect on the dis-
tribution of surface oil by mechanical spreading
 P.D. Yapa /Journal of Marine Systems 4 (1994) 453-471
and D s = effect on the distribution of surface oil
by shoreline deposition.
The concentration distribution in the sus-
pended layer can be described by:
o( C,h ) o o
- - +--(uCvh) + (verb)
Ot Ox ~y
O[ OCL. , O( OCv)
= ox [ hDx-ff-f-x ) + -~y hDy--~-y
-- alVbCv [ z=o + yCs - fllCu I z= _ h
in which, C,, = depth-averaged volumetric con-
centration of oil in the suspended layer; h = depth
of flow; u and v = components of depth-averaged
river current in x and y directions, respectively;
and fit = coefficient defining the rate of net oil
deposition on the river bed per unit area.
Eq. 10 can be simplified by introducing the
mass conservation equation of water:
Oh 0 0
-Ot
- + ~x ( uh ) + ~y (vh) = 0
In Lagrangian form, the simplified equation
for the suspended layer becomes:
DC~, 1[ 0 [ OCL,
Dt h [-~xthDx~x )
+ hOY-gT j ] - -gVbCv + - g C s - f C v
in which, D / D t = 1/Ot + u(8/Ox) + v(O/Oy); aC~,
= al G, I z=O; and fC~, = (fllc. I z = - h ) / h .
The processes involved in the above equations
are briefly described in the following sections.
5.2. Advection
Advection is a physical process which involves
the drifting of the surface oil slick and the sub-
surface oil. It is the main mechanism which gov-
erns the location of the oil following its discharge
into the river. Once spilled into the river, the oil
is generally transported downstream. There are
two cases to consider: open water and ice covered
water. Advection of oil in open water is depen-
461
dent both on the current and wind velocities and
state of the oil slick.
The advection of surface oil is caused by the
combined effects of surface current and wind
drag. The advection of subsurface oil is the move-
ment of suspended oil droplets entrained in the
flow due to the subsurface current.
In ROSS3 surface advection is simulated using
the wind factor approach. The most commonly
used value for contribution from the wind veloc-
(10) ity is 0.03. The surface current velocity is approxi-
mated to be 1.1 times the average velocity of the
water column. Justification for the factor 1.1 is
available in several earlier publications (e.g. Shen
and Yapa, 1988). Horizontal diffusion due to the
turbulent fluctuation of the drift velocity is simu-
lated based on the random walk analysis (Fischer
et al., 1979). The details of the implementation
was discussed in Shen and Yapa (1988) and Yapa
et al. (1993).
In ice covered water, there is no wind influ-
(11) ence. Assuming that the ice is stationary, the slick
movement under the ice cover is modelled based
on the work of Cox and Shultz (1981).
5.3. Mechanical spreading
Mechanical spreading is the horizontal spread-
ing of the surface oil slick due to the balancing
forces of inertia, gravity, viscous, and surface
tension. This mechanism terminates when the
(12) thickness of the slick reduces and the thin oil
slick ruptures into small patches. The spreading
of oil enhances other weathering processes such
as evaporation, dissolution, and emulsification
through expansion of the oil slick. This expansion
is most dominant during the early stages of the
spill. The spreading on a free water surface is
different from the oil spreading when the slick is
under an ice cover. ROSS3 can simulate spread-
ing in both situations as discussed below.
Spreading in open water
Fay's spreading theory (1971) is based on a
rather comprehensive description of the spread-
ing mechanism and has been verified by labora-
tory experiments (Hoult and Suchon, 1970; Fay
1971) and other analytical solutions (Fannelop
462 P.D. Yapa /Journal of Marine Systems 4 (1994) 453-471
and Waldman, 1971). Fay's spreading theory is
derived for single component, constant volume
slicks with idealized configurations in quiescent
water. This theory considered the spreading of oil
as a result of two driving forces, gravity and
surface tension, counterbalanced by inertia and
viscous forces. The spreading of an oil slick is
considered to pass through three phases. In the
beginning phase, only gravity and inertia forces
are important. In the intermediate phase the
gravity and viscous forces dominate. The final
phase is governed by the balance between surface
tension and viscous forces. Fay's spreading theory
is used in this model to simulate mechanical
spreading on free surface waters.
Spreading under ice couer
For spreading under ice the three phases are
buoyancy-inertia, buoyancy-viscous and viscous-
surface tension. Yapa and Chowdhury (1989) have
shown that the buoyancy-inertia phase lasts for
only a very short time, and that viscous-surface
tension phase is not present in spreading under
ice covers. They developed equations for radial
spreading under ice covers in either constant
volume or constant discharge mode. Weerasuriya
and Yapa (1993) developed equations for one-di-
mensional spreading under ice covers. The simu-
lations using the equations were well in agree-
ment with the laboratory data. In ROSS3 the
above referenced equations are used to simulate
oil spreading under ice covers.
5.4. Shoreline deposition
Oil may be brought to the river banks, de-
posited along the shoreline, and later re-en-
trained into the river current. This process can
significantly affect the distribution of oil, and
should be modelled. Torgrimson (1984) suggested
half-life values to describe the ability of the shore
to retain the oil. Gundlach (1987) has suggested
an enuironmental sensitiuity index ( E S I ) designed
to reflect the sensitivity of the shoreline to oil
pollution. Each shoreline is also assigned a maxi-
mum holding capacity. Once the amount of oil on
shore exceeds the maximum holding capacity, all
the oil reaching shore is rejected back into the
water. In ROSS3 both half life values and maxi-
mum holding capacity are used to simulate the
shoreline conditions.
5.5. Euaporation
Evaporation occurs immemately after the spill.
As the spreading of the surface slick occurs more
of the hydrocarbons are exposed to the atmo-
sphere, causing the evaporation rate to increase.
The amount and rate of evaporation depend on
wind, temperature, surface slick area and the
type of oil. Evaporation is the most significant
physico-chemical process causing the reduction in
oil volume. Highly refined oil can lose 75 % or
more of its volume through evaporation within a
matter of days. In ROSS3 theory developed by
Mackay et al. (1980) is used for calculating the
rate of evaporation.
5.6. Dissolution
Some of the same oil components, which are
subjected to evaporation, can also dissolve into
the water column from a surface slick. Only the
low molecular-weight hydrocarbons have an ap-
preciable solubility in water. The fraction of oil
dissolved is very small in comparison to the oil
that is evaporated. However, this extraction pro-
cess can be important due to the toxicity of the
fraction of the oil dissolved. In ROSS3 the theory
developed by Cohen et al. (1980) and Lu and
Polak (1973) are used to calculate the dissolution
rate.
5. 7. Vertical mixing, resurfacing and sedimentation
Aravamudan et al. (1979) developed a model
to compute the size of oil droplets and volume of
oil dispersed in a wave field. Mackay et al. (1980b)
considered that the emulsification of the oil from
the surface slick into the ocean's underlying wa-
ter column is produced in part by the mechanism
that accompanies a breaking wave while another
part of the mechanism is related to the hydrody-
namics associated with non-breaking waves.
Delvigne (1993) presented arguments to demon-
strate the similarity between dispersion by break-
 P.D. Yapa /Journal of Marine Systems 4 (1994) 453-471
ing waves and dispersion of oil by different
sources. In rivers, the mixing mechanism is domi-
nated by turbulence intensity. Oil after breaking
into small globules and being entrained in the
water column can move back to the surface due
to buoyancy. This again is a complex process as
different oil parcels may have different buoyant
velocities. The mixing between the surface and
suspended layers is far from clear and the overall
understanding of the mechanism is poor.
Some of the suspended oil droplets may also
sink to the river bed. This sinking or sedimenta-
tion process occurs due to the increase in density
of the oil, resulting from either the evaporation
and dissolution of lighter fractions of the oil, or
adherence of the oil droplets onto suspended
sediment. The oil deposited on the channel bot-
tom may be moved laterally, resuspended, or
undergo further biological or physical-chemical
reaction. Little is known about the ultimate fate
of the sedimented oil.
The coefficients y, a 1 and /3 and buoyant
velocity Vb in Eqs. (9) and (10) account for the
vertical mixing, resurfacing and sedimentation in
ROSS3.
5.8. Implementation of the Lagrangian discrete
parcels method
In ROSS3 the oil is represented by a large
ensemble of small parcels. The movement of each
parcel is affected by the physico- chemical pro-
cesses described in a previous section. Once the
parcels are released in the water body, their
discrete path and mass are followed and recorded
as functions of time relative to the reference grid
system fixed in space. Then the density distribu-
tion of the ensemble can be interpreted as the
concentration of the oil. Since the movement of
each parcel is dependent upon the distribution of
the entire ensemble, all parcels must be traced to
a time level before proceeding to the next. Simi-
lar methods have been used by Shen and Yapa
(1988).
The Lagrangian parcel method is inherently
stable although the time step should be compati-
463
ble with the grid size (Roache, 1972). The scheme
does not require the solution of a system of
equations. Since the computations follow the
parcels, the scheme is more efficient than fully
Eulerian schemes.
The slick is represented as two distinct layers.
A surface layer that floats on water and a sus-
pended layer that is mixed into the water column.
Within each layer, the oil is represented as a
large number of parcels with time varying posi-
tion and mass. Oil is continually being exchanged
between the layers due to surface oil mixing into
the water column and mixed oil resurfacing into
the surface layer. A fraction of the mass of sur-
face parcels mixes into the suspended layer each
time step. This is implemented by adding a parcel
to the suspended layer, at every surface parcel
location, at every time step. The mass of the
added parcel is determined by the mixing coeffi-
cient. Similarly, for every time step, for every
suspended parcel location, a parcel is added to
the surface layer. The mass of the added parcel is
determined by the resurfacing coefficient oz and
the buoyancy velocity v b.
Since the number of parcels in each layer is
continuously changing both due to exchange and
recombining, it is necessary to use an efficient
data structure for storing them. So the current
implementation uses an array of linked lists
(Knuth, 1974) for storing parcel information. This
results in fairly efficient storing in a packed man-
ner, and is ideally suited to simulations involving
multiple species of contaminants.
With the normalized (r,s) co-ordinate system
for sub cells a simple scheme can be devised to
describe the parcel movement. There are two
possibilities for moving forward, and two possibil-
ities for moving backward. This gives any given
parcel only five movements one of which is re-
maining in the same cell. s > 1 indicates that a
parcel has moved forward out of a cell to fall
between the next pair of cross sections, s < 0
indicates that it has moved backward. If r > 1 at
the uppermost stream tube, then the parcel has
hit the upper bank of the river. If r < 0 at the
lowermost stream tube, then the parcel has hit
the lower bank. This scheme allows the computa-
tions to pinpoint cells into which the parcels
464 P.D. Yapa/ Journalof Marine Systems 4 (1994)453-471
move without engaging in expensive searches
through ceils.
6. The m o d e l structure
Almost all oil spill models in the past had an
oil spill simulation module served by pre proces-
sors and post processors which allow interactive
data entry and visualization. However, the pro-
grams were not completely integrated enough to
see the graphical progress of the simulation and
be able to stop view the results and then continue
the process. In almost all of these cases, the
graphics and the data entry interfaces were writ-
ten in computer languages that are different from
the language (usually Fortran) that was used for
the oil spill model. In ROSS3 the complete model
is written in Fortran including the data entry
menus and visualization.
In the present model (ROSS3) all modules are
completely integrated. ROSS3 includes data en-
try, hydrodynamics, oil spill simulation, visualiza-
tion. A data entry for weather conditions will
affect both the hydrodynamical computations and
the oil spill simulations. When the simulation is
in progress the summary of slick conditions is
numerically shown and the slick location and
spread is graphically updated every time step.
These features allow the user to monitor the
simulation. At any time the user can intervene
and stop the simulation, view the past results
(previous time steps) and then continue the simu-
lation from where it was stopped or restart the
simulation.
The bathymetry of the river is digitized and
maintained in memory as a Delaunay Triangula-
tion (Renka, 1984). The depth at any point of
interest is then obtained by performing linear
interpolation over the triangulation. ROSS3
through it's integrated graphical features allow
the user to place extra cross sections (interac-
tively) in the flow domain. The model automati-
cally constructs a profile of the cross section
based on the bathymetry data. The new cross
section is then considered in computations. Since
this can be done at run time, the accuracy of the
results from the stream tube method can be fur-
ther improved if necessary. The cross section
profile can be instantly drawn on the screen using
menus.
7. The m o d e l area
The region modeled is made up of the St.
Clair River and Lake St. Clair in the upper Great
Lakes Region. Fig. 2 shows the model flow do-
main.
The St. Clair river can be considered to be
made up of three distinct reaches. An upper
reach extending downstream from Lake Huron to
a point approximately 5 km from the Interna-
tional Blue Water Bridge, a middle reach that
extends for approximately the next 43 krn, and a
lower reach that extends the next 14 km down to
Lake St. Clair. The maximum velocities of the St.
Clair River occur in the upper reach, where the
depths vary from about 9 to 21 m. Drogue studies
have recorded velocities upto 2 m / s in the upper
reach. The depths in the middle reach vary from
about 8 to 15 m, and velocities average between
0.8 to 1.4 m / s . The lower reach divides into a
number of channels which flow across a delta
called the St. Clair Flats. The discharge in the St.
Clair river varies from 3682 m3/s (for low flow)
to 6514 m3/s (for high flow) conditions.
Lake St. Clair (Fig. 2) has an average depth of
3.4 m, and a maximum depth of 6.4 m, except for
the 8.2 m navigation channel that runs across the
lake. The Lake is about 42 km long and 38 km
wide, and receives the discharge from Lake Huron
through the St. Clair River. The outflow from
Lake St. Clair is through the Detroit River.
Fig. 2 shows the complete model area as used
in the current study. The study area consists of
the St. Clair River and the St. Clair Lake, to-
gether making up the St. Clair R i v e r - L a k e sys-
tem. The bathymetric information has been ob-
tained by digitizing N O A A hydrographic charts
for the region.
 P.D. Yapa /Journal of Marine Systems 4 (1994) 453-471
8. Simulations
8.1. Velocity simulations
The velocity distribution in the lake is ob-
tained from the lake unsteady flow model devel-
oped by Schwab et al. (1981). These velocities
computed at a grid size of 4000 ft (1220 m) have
been verified in earlier studies (Schwab et al.,
1981; Shen et al., 1987, 1990).
The river velocity distributions are computed
starting from the boundary conditions of the up-
stream (Lake Huron) and downstream (Lake St.
Clair) water levels. Alternatively, the discharge
and water levels can also be used as boundary
conditions. In order to test the validity and accu-
racy of the scheme used, velocities were simu-
lated using the boundary conditions at Lake
H u r o n and Lake St. Clair at the time drogue
studies were conducted.
Figs. 7, 8 and 9 show several sections of the
river with varying cross sectional geometries
where some drogue studies have been performed.
These figures also show the comparison between
the computed velocities and the observed values
from drogue studies. The implementation simu-
lates the flow distribution reasonably well. The
discrepancies of computed velocities when com-
pared with drogue study results can be attributed
mainly to drogue velocities being affected some-
what by the prevailing winds, although observers
selected days with light winds.
8.2. Oil spill simulations
T h e r e are no observed data on oil spills avail-
able for the application area. Figs. 1 0 a - d show
the simulation results for a hypothetical oil spill.
151,000 liters of light Crude oil were assumed to
be spilled upstream of Fawn Island, in the lower
part of the St. Clair River. The spill takes place
over a period of 20 min. Lake H u r o n is at a level
of 117.04 m and Lake St. Clair is at a level of
175.46 m. All levels being referred to the Interna-
tional G r e a t Lakes D a t u m of 1955. The input
parameters used in this simulation are summa-
rized in Table 1. T h e r e are no good data avail-
able for Vb, a t, 3' and /3. A complete sensitivity
465
analysis is beyond the scope of this p a p e r and
provides no insight unless compared with real
observed data. In a separate study by the authors
for which very limited data were available, the
values given in Table 1 were found to give a
reasonable simulation in comparison to field ob-
servations (Shen et al., 1991; Yapa et al., 1992).
In the absence of any better values the same
values are used here. It is hoped that future
studies will help learn more about these values.
The sequence of figures show the transport
and fate of the simulated oil slick. As can be seen
from the figures the oil slick first curves around
Fawn island and then moves downstream. Then
the oil slick is split apart from the flow diversion
as the river enters the lake. The oil slick position
and area is illustrated by using the parcels used
to represent the oil. Fig. 11 illustrates using color
contours the oil slick size, distribution, and loca-
tion for time = 3 h of the simulation.
From the results there are several things to be
observed. The new method adopted in this p a p e r
allows the flow velocities to be computed along
the natural bathymetric direction of the river,
rather than on an arbitrary rectangular co-
ordinate system. This scheme produces much bet-
ter velocity distributions especially where there
are flow diversions around islands. This is
demonstrated by the results shown in Figs. 10a-d.
Notice the qualitatively correct patterns of oil
Table 1
Input parameters for sample simulations
Test 1
Spill Site u / s of Fawn Isl.
Oil V o l u m e / t y p e 151,000 liters
Light Crude
Spill condition 10% underwater
90% on surface
duration = 20 rain
Wind 3 mph, from W
Temperature 75F
Buoyant velocity v b 0.01 f t / s
Resurfacing coef. a 1.0
E n t r a i n m e n t coef. 3' 10 5 s 1
Deposition coef./3 10-5 s - l
Initial parcel n u m b e r 1200
A t -advection 2 min
A t - o i l spill processes 30 min
466 P.D. Yapa /Journal of Marine Systems 4 (1994) 453-471

"see 10mo 1=oo 2000 25;m 3m m 10el&t 5 0 0 2 m 2 5 a ~ ....

5 s

t
10 10 tO lg
15

~ t"
-15
20 -20 2 ::r
-2~ " Z5 -25 25
-3e -30 -30 , -3iZ

-,,
" ~
! s~ao. 1
ill
-: -41t "' -41
v

-415 -40 -4t1 -45

0 ~N x0oo s5oo 2000 2500 ....... ~ 5~! 100015N200025aOOOt~03500

' IB ' S oral l m O O 1 5 0 0 2 0 0 0 2 5 0 0 3 0 0 0 3 i 5 0 0 0 500 1000 1500 20~0 2500 3000

,<
0
t~
5 5 5

V
10 f '0
E
m 500 100015 ~ 2000250030003~5~e i 0 5~ 1000 1'300 2000 2500 300B ,

Fig. 7. Velocity distributions and cross sections at Fawn Island.

 P.D. Yapa / Journal of Marine Systems 4 (1994) 453-47l 467

slick transport around the island. This pattern plemented. The new scheme adopted also gives
would be impossible to produce on a model with better results for shoreline deposition both at
rectangular grids, unless a very small grid is ira- sharp curves as well as near islands. Notice the

[ Section 1 ]

' ' I '11eO x m t s o e ~ o z e 2 5 o o 3 g l o : m m e

s!

I S ,cd, m2
1|t
1.'| XS
7
~" \ / \ /-"

v
3." -35
-4m -~

.Q ~SEIO 1 1 ~ ='eIBO 2Smm 3 t I

. . . . 158Q 2 ~ 251D0 31BaO

O
t~
5

m
V
0
~ue ~s~ 2~e e se~ a~ x~e. 2~,2~3~.a ~=ee

Fig. 8. Velocity distributions and cross sections at Stag Island.

 OlI!ASA+ttqA1 ]e SUO!:IOOSSSO.tOpue suoIlnqp~,s!p A~,IZOIOA'6 "+EI
~I~GT ~ T ~Dg
V
"\ ........../ '
Ns, T.......... ~m,'t ~
~mt ~t
G- ~C- lie
om- o-
v
~- / \ ,~
~- ~
,,- / __ ,, \"'
+m-
+./ - . \
~+
i'/
I
- -

z:.o.',=s+_l
13~zzo3 ~q ol A~OIJ ~ql ~z~qa~ Sl~lJ Z.mlD "~S s ~ u o I!O oq~ U~qA~
s z g o d d e ~lU~ttI~AOttl OlO!laed p u e UO.ISJ~A.Ip A~O[J Oq:l UIe~V "Z0AUZIelD "~S ~ql JO ~U!lOzoqs u ~ s e o ~ql
'SlOUUeqo aOltetus Ie.IOAOSolrdt S+Ie~Jq pue SOff.IOAtp ffUOl~ ffuiffffnq I!O jo stumbled l~ozzo~ ~l~A!le~!lenb
ILP-FfP (P66I) P stuals'(S au.u~14[fo lt'uanof / vd~A '(I'd 89t,
st. ctA1, musma I~ I s++ c t ~ + , mumm ! / I s+. ct+zm .~u~ I / I s+. c~t, ,+uzm

Fa*~'~ i s l ,

LAKE ST. Clt~lli Po~t ~ a n

Algonao A1~On&O Algonlb~l~

,U/

Fig. 10. H y p o t h e t i c a l spill u p s t r e a m of F a w n I s l a n d (a) t = 1 h; (b) t = 4 b; (c) t = 6 h; (d) t = 8 h.

4~
470 P.D. Yapa / Journal of Marine Systems 4 (1994) 453-471
ST. CLAIR R I V E R
Port Lambton
Fig. 11. Concentration distribution for t = 3 h of the simulation.
9. Conclusions
An oil spill model shell, ROSS3, has been
developed for simulating oil spills in geometri-
cally complex domains. It has been applied to the
St. Clair R i v e r - L a k e system. ROSS3 incorpo-
rates a time-varying, boundary-fitted coordinate
system that is particularly suited for stream tube
methods. The same coordinate system is adopted
for oil spill transport computations. The coordi-
nate system used is computationally efficient and
can approximate the natural shapes of the water
bodies more accurately than conventional rectan-
gular grids. ROSS3 can simulate the processes of
advection, horizontal diffusion, m e c h a n i c a l
spreading, shoreline deposition, evaporation, dis-
solution, vertical mixing, resurfacing and sedi-
mentation.
The velocity simulations are compared with
observed data from the drogue studies and agrees
well. No data is available for comparing the oil
n Island
C ( Arb. Units)
1#, t4
v4.
I ,IH~I k4
spill simulations. The sample simulation demon-
strates qualitatively correct results that are more
realistic than the standard regular grid models for
oil spill transport, particularly for transport
around curves and islands.
10. Acknowledgements
This project was partially supported by the US
A r m y Cold Regions Research and Engineering
Laboratory (CRREL), U.S. Army Corps of Engi-
neers, Hanover, N.H. under Contract No. D A C A
89-91-K-0004.
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