A bubble curtain is a system that produces
bubble
Bubble, Bubbles or The Bubble may refer to:
Common uses
* Bubble (physics), a globule of one substance in another, usually gas in a liquid
** Soap bubble
* Economic bubble, a situation where asset prices are much higher than underlying funda ...
s in a deliberate arrangement in water. It is also called
pneumatic barrier
A pneumatic barrier is a method to contain oil spills. It is also called a bubble curtain. Air bubbling through a perforated pipe causes an upward water flow that slows the spread of oil. It can also be used to stop fish from entering polluted ...
. The technique is based on bubbles of air (gas) being let out under the water surface, commonly on the bottom. When the bubbles rise they act as a barrier, a curtain, breaking the propagation of
wave
In physics, mathematics, and related fields, a wave is a propagating dynamic disturbance (change from equilibrium) of one or more quantities. Waves can be periodic, in which case those quantities oscillate repeatedly about an equilibrium (re ...
s or the spreading of
particles
In the physical sciences, a particle (or corpuscule in older texts) is a small localized object which can be described by several physical or chemical properties, such as volume, density, or mass.
They vary greatly in size or quantity, from s ...
and other
contaminant
Contamination is the presence of a constituent, impurity, or some other undesirable element that spoils, corrupts, infects, makes unfit, or makes inferior a material, physical body, natural environment, workplace, etc.
Types of contamination
Wi ...
s.
Uses
It can be used for the following purposes:
* to reduce propagation of
shock wave
In physics, a shock wave (also spelled shockwave), or shock, is a type of propagating disturbance that moves faster than the local speed of sound in the medium. Like an ordinary wave, a shock wave carries energy and can propagate through a me ...
s (e.g.
acoustic waves from
engine
An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy.
Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power ...
s or
pile driving,
explosions etcetera),
* to reduce liquid or debris floating on the surface from spreading
* to prevent salt intrusion
* to control the movements of fish
* for decoration and airing in
aquariums
In June 2010,
Okaloosa County, Florida
Okaloosa County is located in the northwestern portion of the U.S. state of Florida, extending from the Gulf of Mexico to the Alabama state line. As of the 2020 census, the population was 211,668. Its county seat is Crestview. Okaloosa County ...
used air bubble curtains to help protect their
Destin Pass coastline from
oil
An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturated ...
produced in the
Gulf of Mexico
The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United ...
by the
Deepwater Horizon oil spill
The ''Deepwater Horizon'' oil spill (also referred to as the "BP oil spill") was an industrial disaster that began on 20 April 2010 off of the coast of the United States in the Gulf of Mexico on the BP-operated Macondo Prospect, considere ...
. They hoped to push oil up to the surface for booms and skimming boats to collect the oil. British multinational oil company
BP, who the
U.S. government named as the responsible party for the oil spill, was billed for the cost of the project.
Equipment
The technical system basically consists of a
compressor and pipe or hose with nozzles. When used to reduce acoustic waves from pile driving, a
distribution manifold made of
plastic
Plastics are a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic materials that use polymers as a main ingredient. Their plasticity makes it possible for plastics to be moulded, extruded or pressed into solid objects of various shapes. This adaptab ...
or
rubber
Rubber, also called India rubber, latex, Amazonian rubber, ''caucho'', or ''caoutchouc'', as initially produced, consists of polymers of the organic compound isoprene, with minor impurities of other organic compounds. Thailand, Malaysia, an ...
is commonly used.
Offshore pile driving
Pile driving in connection to offshore construction, most importantly
monopile
A deep foundation is a type of foundation that transfers building loads to the earth farther down from the surface than a shallow foundation does to a subsurface layer or a range of depths. A pile or piling is a vertical structural element ...
foundations for
offshore wind turbines, produces very high levels of underwater noise,
capable of inflicting damage to the hearing of marine organisms
and deter animals at tens of km from the construction site.
Large-scale bubble curtains are now routinely used to mitigate these impacts as they can attenuate the noise significantly, in particular the higher frequencies, above 1 kHz.
See also
*
Prairie-Masker
*
Sonar decoy
A sonar decoy is a device for decoying sonar. Most are released from submarines to act as a false target.
Submarine decoys
The first submarine decoys were the German Bold fitted to U-boats of World War II. These were a pellet of calcium hydrid ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bubble Curtain
Water technology