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OHMSETT FACILITY
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Members of the Ohmsett staff belong to the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) F20 Committee on Hazardous Substances and Oil Spill Response. The F20 Committee was formed in 1975 to develop and update documents relevant to hazardous substances and oil spill response. The committee, with current membership of approximately 120, now has jurisdiction of over 55 standards, published in the Annual Book of ASTM Standards, Volume 11.04.

Ohmsett uses ASTM standards for all oil spill equipment evaluations. ASTM standards exist for equipment testing such as booms and skimmers, for the selection of appropriate equipment for spill response, for oil spill terminology and for related laboratory procedures. These protocols define a series of test methods to determine the oil containment and recovery efficiencies of spill response equipment, such as booms and skimmers, when they are subjected to a variety of towing and wave conditions. In addition to oil containment evaluations, numerous other performance characteristics are quantitatively and qualitatively identified and determined. The tests provide standardized procedures for any system tested. Additionally, the tests provide evaluation of the system's capabilities in different environmental conditions and the ability to compare test results of a particular equipment type with others having undergone these standard tests.

Several Ohmsett staff members have also helped the F20 Committee in the development of a new boom testing protocol. This standard, F-2084-01 Standard Guide for Collecting Containment Boom Performance Data in Controlled Environments, was developed based on Ohmsett testing methods and was recently approved by the committee.

Pertinent ASTM standards include:

D 97-96a Test Method for Pour Point of Petroleum Oils

D 445-97 Test Method for Kinematic Viscosity of Transparent and Opaque Liquids (the Calculation of Dynamic Viscosity)

D 971-91 Standard Test Method for Interfacial Tension of Oil Against Water by the Ring Method

D 1298-85 Standard Practice for Density, Relative Density (Specific Gravity), or API Gravity of Crude Petroleum and Liquid Petroleum Products by Hydrometer Method

D 1796-97 Standard Test Method for Water and Sediment in Fuel Oils by the Centrifuge Method (Laboratory Procedure)

D 2983-87 Standard Test Method for Low-Temperature Viscosity of Automotive Fluid Lubricants Measured by Brookfield Viscometer

D 4007-81 (1995) Test Method for Water and Sediment in Crude Oil by Centrifuge Method (Laboratory Procedures)

D 4092-96 Test Method for Density and Relative Density of liquids by Digital Density Meter

F 631-93 Standard Guide for Collecting Skimmer Performance Data in Controlled Environments

F 818-93 Standard Terminology Relating to Spill Response Barriers

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