An enhanced propane underwater bubbler system designed to allow the testing of fire resistant booms in flames was installed at Ohmsett-The National Oil Spill Response Test Facility, in Leonardo, New Jersey in the fall of 1998. The cornerstone of the test is an underwater bubbler system to create air-enhanced propane flames that produce an average total heat flux to the surface of a candidate boom in the range of 110 to 130 kW/m2 and flame temperatures on the order of 900 degrees C. The boom to be tested is stretched over the center of the bubbler, parallel to the long dimension of the tank, and tensioned to realistic towing forces. The fire exposure portion of the test involves three cycles of one-hour exposure to air-enhanced propane flames in waves, followed by a one hour cool down period in waves alone, and conforms to ASTM testing guideline F-2152-01. Since the air-enhanced propane system was developed, eleven fire resistant boom systems have been tested. These include: three refractory fabric booms, one stainless steel boom, three water-cooled blanket prototypes, three reflective/insulating blanket prototypes and one water-cooled boom.
The fire boom tests were conducted at the Ohmsett facility from October 12-17, 2000. Based on these tests it can be concluded that:
Well designed stainless steel fire boom can survive a large number of operational burns at sea.
Well designed water-cooled booms can survive a large number of operational burns at sea but can become top-heavy and roll on their side.
Refractory fabric fire booms, depending on design, will likely survive one to four operational burns at sea before requiring replacement.
Well designed water-cooled blankets can protect underlying US Navy boom for several operational burns at sea, but will render the boom top heavy and highly susceptible to rolling over on their side.
Reflective / insulating blankets can provide short-term protection to underlying booms exposed only to radiant heat loads experienced near an in-situ-burn.
The final report was accepted and distributed to the working parties.