The ability of coherent water streams to induce a surface current in water and thus control a floating oil slick was examined at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (USEPA) Oil and Hazardous Materials Simulated Environmental Test Tank (OHMSETT). The objective of the tests was to evaluate coherent water streams as an alternative to fabric booms and water sprays in concentrating, diverting, and containing oil slicks. The water jets were constructed from standard pipe fittings and supplied with water from common centrifugal water pumps. They were mounted on the main towing bridge, built into small floats that were angled across the direction of tow, and extended from the bows of a catamaran. Currents of up to six knots were induced by towing the water jets from the main bridge. The tests showed that coherent jets could induce a significant surface current and move an oil slick with little oil entrainment. The non-breaking waves produced by the OHMSETT wave generator did not greatly affect performance except where the jet nozzels were cantilevered off the front of the catamaran. The best position for the untended water jets tested was to be vertically directed at the surface of the water with the outlet 0.4 to 1.0 meters above the surface. The vertical component of a coherent water stream was found to be as useful, if not more so, as the horizonal component. A water jet supplied by a 30 Kw electric motor/centrifugal pump system performed better than a source of compressed air (210 KPA) extended 0.6 m below the surface supplied by a 50 Kw gasoline-driven air compressor.

Project officer: John S. Farlow. Contract no. 68-03-2642. Photocopy.