• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.40-51
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• 1998

The interaction of contained oil slicks with current was investigated with a two-dimensional experimental setup in the circulating water channel facility. A vertical plate was used to contain the oils against the currents and the evolution of the oil slick, mainly focusing on the water/oil interface, was examined with an aid of a laser sheet. Two different oils - soy bean oil and diesel oil - were studied with varying the current speed (10 cm/sec to 35 cm/sec), the barrier depth (4 cm and 8 cm) and the volume of oil (2 liter to 12 liter). Different types of the interface behavior were observed according to the conditions and their mechanism was discussed based basically on the dimensional analysis. The critical speeds of two types of oil loss mechanism (entrainment failure and drainage failure) were also examined.