Field Experiments at the Ohmsett Facility for a Newly Designed Boom System

In this paper, the full-scale test performance of an innovative boom system is analyzed. The boom system consisted of a ramp boom, which is inclined 15° with respect to the water surface, followed by three conventional booms with different draft lengths. According to the test results, the boom system is observed to have a better collection efficiency than simple conventional booms. The efficiency of simple booms is known to be very low at oil–water relative velocities greater than 1 knot. A high of 86.5% collection efficiency was achieved by the new boom system at a tow speed of 1.5 knots. The new boom system was found to have a critical tow speed of 1.89 knots, beyond which the collection efficiency decreases rapidly. This tow speed of 1.89 knots corresponds to a critical Froude number of 0.36.