Abstract
The effect of sea waves on the oil release from grounded tankers is unknown and ignored by maritime safety regulations. This study predicts the wave-induced spillage through fluid-mechanical analysis of a damaged double-hulled tanker under wave action. The punctured tanks are identified as Helmholtz resonators for wave pressures, and the induced oil spillage is estimated based on mechanics of fountains and layered fluids. Waves are predicted to increase the spill considerably already in moderate weather: for typical grounding damages, additional spilling initiates at wave heights of 0.5–3 metres and amounts to 5–30% of tank capacity, possibly more than doubling the total release. The results imply that the current hydrostatic outflow predictions may grossly underestimate the spill hazard in moderate-to-heavy weather tanker groundings, and that the environmental risk of oil transport may be larger than thought.
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