Exfoliation of Shellfish From Drainpipe of Power Plant Using Underwater Shock Wave

Abstract

Power plants are built along the coastal belts as the coolant, sea water, is available aplenty and cheaper. However, shellfish such as oyster and barnacle, usually, stick to the inside of the pipeline transferring seawater. These shellfish often block the pipeline and is disastrous. When these shellfish adheres inside the pipe, they cannot of be removed easily. Chemical treatments are available to reduce this hindrance, but then, it is undesirable as the chemicals create ecological conundrum. Therefore, a novel technique of exfoliating the shellfish from the inside of the pipe using underwater shock waves is proposed. The underwater shock wave is generated by underwater detonation of explosives. An explosive is arranged on the outside of the metal pipe sunk underwater and exploded. The shock waves generated by underwater explosion of explosive, impinges on the metal pipe. The shellfish is exfoliated by the expanding pressure generated by the propagation of the underwater shock wave from the outside to the inside of the metal pipe. To confirm these phenomena some samples of metal to which the shellfish were adhered were collected from the area along the shore, and the underwater experiments were conducted. The explosive was a detonation fuse. The distance from the sample to the explosive (stand-off) was varied. The results of the exfoliation attempt using underwater shock waves are discussed in this paper.Copyright © 2004 by ASME