Oil Containment Booms Research Articles

Discussion: “Oil Slick Instability and the Entrainment Failure of Oil Containment Booms” (Leibovich, Sidney, 1976, ASME J. Fluids Eng., 98, pp. 98–103)

Discussion: “Oil Slick Instability and the Entrainment Failure of Oil Containment Booms” (Leibovich, Sidney, 1976, ASME J. Fluids Eng., 98, pp. 98–103)

Closure to “Discussions of ‘Oil Slick Instability and the Entrainment Failure of Oil Containment Booms’” (1976, ASME J. Fluids Eng., 98, pp. 103–104)

Closure to “Discussions of ‘Oil Slick Instability and the Entrainment Failure of Oil Containment Booms’” (1976, ASME J. Fluids Eng., 98, pp. 103–104)

Oil Slick Instability and the Entrainment Failure of Oil Containment Booms

The onset of droplet formation from contained oil slicks is interpreted to be due to the breaking of finite amplitude interfacial waves. These waves result from the equilibration of amplifying Kelvin-Helmholtz waves. Experimental evidence is shown to be consistent with this view. From this model, conditions for droplet shedding from the headwave alone and from the entire slick are derived. Also, an earlier result in the stability of thin slicks is shown to be in error.

Discussion: “Oil Slick Instability and the Entrainment Failure of Oil Containment Booms” (Leibovich, Sidney, 1976, ASME J. Fluids Eng., 98, pp. 98–103)

Discussion: “Oil Slick Instability and the Entrainment Failure of Oil Containment Booms” (Leibovich, Sidney, 1976, ASME J. Fluids Eng., 98, pp. 98–103)

High Seas Oil Recovery System

ABSTRACT A system for recovery of petroleum products from accidental offshore spills has been developed and tested. The testing has included both model testing and full scale testing of a 60 foot long system capable of recovering oil at a rate of 2,000 gallons/minute. The tests have shown the system capable of recovering spilled oil at high efficiencies (less than 10 percent water in the recovered oil) at the 2,000 GPM rate under environmental conditions ranging from calm to low State five Seas (8 feet significant wave height) and in currents up to three knots. The system efficiency (percent of oil in the recovery stream) is relatively independent of oil specific gravity, viscosity, oil film thickness, wind and wave conditions, oil-water interfacial tension, surface temperature and variation in significant oil type when towed at speeds of one to three knots. As indicated, efficiencies of 90–100 percent can be expected under these conditions. The oil recovery rate is relatively independent of wind and wave conditions, surface temperature, oil specific gravity, oil-water interfacial tension and significant oil type variation. It is not affected by viscosity except for discharge hose pressure limitations above 10,000 SSU. The oil recovery system is air and truck transportable for rapid deployment to a remote spill location. It is completely self-contained having its own power unit, control system, and pumps. In its preferred deployment configuration it is used with oil containment booms for funneling the oil to the recovery system. A double weir system is employed to obtain the high performance of the system. The system is operated in such a way that oil thickens in front of the primary weir and then further thickens in front of the secondary weir, where it is withdrawn. Typically, the system concentrates free slicks from a thickness of 0.1 inches or less to a depth of approximately two feet in front of the secondary weir. The testing reported upon includes both model testing and full scale testing of the system. The work reported upon was partially supported by the U.S. Coast Guard.

OIL SPILL CONTAINMENT AND RECOVERY SYSTEMS

Systems for containment and recovery of oil spills in the offshore environment have been recently developed and tested.Containment SystemA containment barrier system has been designed to maintain structural integrity in 20 ft seas, 3 knot currents and 60 mph winds, and to contain oil in 4 to 5 ft seas and 40 mph winds. The system uses the properties of foam materials to make it lightweight, easily deployable, flexible, and highly wave-conforming. One unique property of the barrier is a special "dynamic keel" which permits the barrier to have static and dynamic stability without a significant weight penalty. The barrier uses foam "memory" to store energy, eliminating the need for auxiliary deployment equipment such as compressors. The barrier is designed so that it can be rapidly deployed to increase containment effectiveness.Recovery SystemA system for recovery of petroleum products from accidental offshore spills has been developed and tested. The testing has included both model testing and prototype testing of a 60 ft long system capable of recovering oil at a rate of 2000 gallons per minute. A 500 gpm system has also been designed.The tests have shown the system capable of recovering spilled oil at high efficiencies (less than 10% water in the recovered oil) at the 2000 gpm rate under environmental conditions ranging from calm to low State 5 seas (8 ft significant wave height) and in currents up to three knots.The oil recovery system is air, truck and ship transportable for rapid deployment to a remote spill location. It is completely self-contained having its own power unit, control system, and pumps. In its preferred deployment configuration it is used with oil containment booms such as the "dynamic keel" barrier, for funnelling the oil to the recovery system.A double weir system is employed to obtain high performance. The system is operated in such a way that oil thickens in front of the primary weir and then further thickens in front of the secondary weir, where it is withdrawn.

Effect of Steepness of Regular and Irregular Waves on an Oil Containment Boom

As part of the study described here, a mathematical model was used in an effort to predict splashover. Although the general motion of the boom can be simulated, we have a long way to go before a model will be sophisticated enough to take into account the interaction between the wave and the boom and to predict mathematically what it takes to swamp it. Introduction Shell Oil Co.'s concern with environmental pollution and more specifically the prevention of pollution of our lakes, rivers, and oceans resulted in an investigation to evaluate the effectiveness of commercial oil containment and removal devices. One phase of this extensive investigation, conducted by the Shell Pipe Line Research and Development Laboratory in Houston, was the evaluation of oil containment booms in the presence of waves. The evaluation consisted of presence of waves. The evaluation consisted of experimentally testing the commercially available booms in a wave tank; offshore testing in the Gulf of Mexico; scale model testing, at the Davidson Laboratory, Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, N. J.; and attempting to mathematically model the boom response in waves. Laboratory Wave-Tank Tests The initial test phase consisted of evaluating, the performance of commercially available prototype and performance of commercially available prototype and production oil containment booms in long-crested production oil containment booms in long-crested regular waves generated in a laboratory wave tank. The wave tank built specifically for this purpose was 50 ft wide× 120 ft long and 5 ft deep, with a flapper wave generator at one end and a beach (wave absorber) at the other. This facility made it possible to generate regular waves with heights up possible to generate regular waves with heights up to 20 in. and periods ranging from 0.98 to 2.1 seconds. The following data were recorded during the wave-tank testing: wave height, wave length, wave period, the conditions at failure, and the mode of boom failure. The term "failure," of course, is subject to interpretation. Here failure relates to the operational characteristics rather than to the structural characteristics or strength of the boom and is defined as the passage of any oil either over or under the boom. The initial mode of failure for all of the booms tested was the splashing of oil over the top of the boom, with the exception of those booms that were marginally stable and that capsized without righting themselves after the first wave. For wave conditions more severe than those causing the initial splashover, the booms were swamped by the waves as was expected. An examination of these test data showed that the relationship between the wave length and the wave period of the long-crested regular waves agreed well with the mathematical relationship obtained using Airy wave theory for both intermediate- and deep-water conditions."Deep water" is defined by ,.........................(1) where d = water depth, Ld = wave length for deep water. JPT P. 1007