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ME 17: Oil Spill Simulation

June 2022

Context: 

Taking ME17-Mathematics of Engineering in Spring 2022, the final project was to program a simulation of an oil spill and analyze it using MATLAB.

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Skills:

  • MATLAB

  • Simulation

  • Report writing

Goal: To complete the assignment using knowledge and examples gained through the course. The prompt:

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"On May 19, 2015, a broken onshore pipeline spilled oil down a storm drain and into the ocean for several hours before it was shut off. In order to avoid unsafe bathing, we are tasked with estimating which beaches have a concentration of oil greater than assigned concentration limit, are unsafe, and should be closed to the public."

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I modeled this process by an advection-diffusion equation in 2 spatial dimensions and assumed the stretch of the coast being analyzed is straight. While referencing lecture notes and previous homework assignments, I coded the simulation and produced the following graphs. These graphs are screenshots from the final report I made using LaTeX. 

Screenshot 2022-10-12 194804.png
Screenshot 2022-10-12 194741.png

Results: 

  • I had fun seeing some weird, wrong simulations I made while debugging to produce the final results.

  • Created a full simulation of the oil spill with the ability to analyze time-dependant data

  • Practiced using LaTeX to create the final PDF report

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Report title page: 

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Screenshot 2022-10-12 195512.png
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