This project investigated alternative oil response boom designs to allow booms to collect and contain oil when towed at speeds above the current standard of 0.7 to 1 knot. SL Ross and the National Research Council of Canada conducted an extensive literature review on the existing studies in oil spill boom science and technology. This literature review was followed by two- and three-dimensional Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) simulations and physical modeling experiments to investigate the oil containment performance characteristics of several oil spill containment boom concepts at high speeds, which were subjected to varying quantities of light, medium, and heavy oil. The boom concepts investigated included conventional booms and booms with ramped and/or screen components. The results indicated that a ramped boom concept showed promise for successfully containing oil at higher than typical tow speeds.
This project is complete. The final report is posted below.