FULL SCALE OIL CONTAINMENT BOOM TESTING AT SEA

Abstract

ABSTRACT In May 1994 the Marine Spill Response Corporation, U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Navy, and Minerals Management Service conducted a joint test of oil containment booms in Lower New York Bay and in the Atlantic Ocean east of Sandy Hook New Jersey. These tests allowed the collection of quantitative data on boom performance, including tow forces, skirt draft, and boom freeboard, as a function of tow speed and environmental forces due to currents, wind, and waves. Four booms were chosen for testing based on their different physical characteristics: The 3M Fire Boom, the Barrier Boom, the USCG/Oil Stop inflatable boom, and the U.S. Navy USS-42 boom. Use of these booms allowed data acquisition over a range of buoyancy to weight ratios from 5:1 up to 52:1, nominal skirt drafts from 61 cm up to 150 cm, and freeboards from 37 cm up to 119 cm. The data collected allows a comparison between methods for calculating boom loads and measured loads. Existing calculation methods predict towing loads below the mean loads experienced by a boom when used at sea. Further research will be required to develop an encompassing dimensionless empirical formula, based on hydrodynamic theory and the dynamics of vessel motions, to more closely predict oil containment boom tow loads.