Verification of the OOC Mud and Produced Water Discharge Model using lab-scale plume behaviour experiments
Abstract This paper describes comparisons of predictions by the Offshore Operators Committee (OOC) Mud and Produced Water Discharge Model with published data on experimental laboratory-scale observations of plume behavior in flumes, towing tanks, and wind tunnels. The ability of the OOC Model to predict the plume characteristics observed in numerous individual tests of plume behavior covering a wide range of discharge conditions was examined. Data are provided summarizing the predictive ability of the model for all tests. The dimensionless parameters describing the physical characteristics of the plumes were within the range expected for typical Gulf of Mexico produced water and drilling fluid discharges for most of the comparisons. The model was in good to excellent agreement with measurements of plume behavior under most discharge conditions. The model was less accurate for those experimental cases where extreme plume bending occurred. It is believed that turbulence caused by the discharge pipe itself influenced the behavior of these extreme-bending plumes. The predicted density of solids accumulation on the bottom of a towing tank, a lab-scale analogy of the seabed accumulation of drilling solids, was within a factor of two of experimental observations. Excluding the three simulations of extreme bending plumes, the model showed no systematic trend towards either under- or over-estimation of any parameter examined. This suggests that experimental errors or biases may have contributed to observed differences between predictions and observations. The results of the validation testing described in this report increases confidence in the use of OOC Model predictions as an alternative to the difficult and expensive process of performing field measurements for every practical discharge situation.
Environmental Aspects Of The Use And Disposal Of Non Aqueous Drilling Fluids Associated With Offshore Oil & Gas Operations
P ublications Global experience  e International Association of Oil & Gas Producers has access to a wealth of technical knowledge and experience with its members operating around the world in many different terrains. We collate and distil this valuable knowledge for the industry to use as guidelines for good practice by individual members. Our overall aim is to ensure a consistent approach to training, management and best practice throughout the world.  e oil and gas exploration and production industry recognises the need to develop consistent databases and records in certain fi elds.  e OGP's members are encouraged to use the guidelines as a starting point for their operations or to supplement their own policies and regulations which may apply locally. Many of our guidelines have been recognised and used by international authorities and safety and environmental bodies. Requests come from governments and non-government organisations around the world as well as from non-member companies. Disclaimer hilst every eff ort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information contained in this publication, neither the  nor any of its members past present or future warrants its accuracy or will, regardless of its or their negligence, assume liability for any foreseeable or unforeseeable use made thereof, which liability is hereby excluded. onsequently, such use is at the recipient's own risk on the basis that any use by the recipient constitutes agreement to the terms of this disclaimer.  e recipient is obliged to inform any subsequent recipient of such terms. Copyright OGP ll rights are reserved. aterial may not be copied, reproduced, republished, downloaded, stored in any retrieval system, posted, broadcast or transmitted in any form in any way or by any means except for your own personal non-commercial home use. ny other use requires the prior written permission of the .  ese erms and onditions shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of ngland and ales. isputes arising here from shall be exclusively subject to the jurisdiction of the courts of ngland and ales. Environmental aspects of the use and disposal of non aqueous drilling fluids associated with offshore oil & gas operations Environmental aspects of the use and disposal of non aqueous drilling fluids associated with offshore oil & gas operations Executive Summary New technical challenges in offshore drilling have led to the requirement of drilling fluids with drilling properties that …
Ocean predictive skill assessments in the South Atlantic: Crowd-sourcing of student-based discovery
Autonomous Underwater Gliders have over a decade long history of successful regional deployments serving scientific, societal and security needs in application areas ranging from pole to pole and including the full range of water depths from shallow coastal seas to the deep ocean. Glider deployments covering the basin scale are much fewer, but are a growing capacity as demonstrated by the Woods Hole to Bermuda line that crosses the Gulf Stream, the Atlantic Crossing line that follows the Gulf Stream, and the basin circling flights now being conducted as part of the Challenger Glider Mission. The next step in the evolution of the global Challenger mission is to enable an ensemble of modelers from different institutions and agencies to participate in a meaningful way. This process with be formalized in 2014 by leveraging the data management tools of the U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) and the education tools of the U.S. National Science Foundation's (NSF) Ocean Observing Initiative (OOI). The Education Visualization (EV) tools developed by the OOI's Education and Public Engagement (EPE) Implementing Organization (IO) are currently being configured through the cyber OOI net to display real time OOI glider data with intuitive interactive browser-based tools, reducing the barriers for student participation in sea exploration and discovery. Through U.S. IOOS, forecast ocean data will be harvested from the ephemeral ocean snapshots produced by an ensemble of ocean models along the same glider tracks as Challenger. The parallel observed and forecast datasets, both evolving in real time, will be accessible through the same OOI EV tools, enabling student participation in a crowd-sourced ocean predictive skill experiment. The result will satisfy one of the important goals of the Challenger mission by enabling students to assess of the quality of the ensemble of available global scale ocean models. Student research team projects that use the new model data comparison capabilities will be conducted during the summer of 2014. Students will compare an ensemble of the global ocean models along the high velocity transport pathways by gliders on basin-scale missions, such as one that traverses the northern side of the South Atlantic gyre along the Brazilian shelfbreak. The lasting impact of the Challenger mission will be a global fleet available to respond to events, an assessment of the ocean models along the fastest ocean transport pathways, and the establishment of a network of gliderports for global response.