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tigone · 01-17-10, 02:44 PM

From the Arizona Preservation Project website (info from 2004):

4. Is there still oil on Arizona ?
USS Arizona contains an estimated 500,000 gallons (2,300 tons) of Bunker C fuel oil, which has been slowly escaping since its loss. This oil, a potentially serious environmental hazard, is contained within the corroding hull. Catastrophic oil release, although by all indications not imminent, is ultimately inevitable. Understanding the complex and varied hull corrosion process and modeling structural changes and oil release patterns offers the most efficient method of developing a solution to this potential hazard. Because of the particular national importance of Arizona, any solution must incorporate a minimum-impact approach, or long-term site preservation will be compromised. Unnecessary impairment of Arizona’s hull is likely to be seen by many as more problematic than oil release. Addressing the oil release problem within a site-preservation framework as incorporated within this project provides the best balance of competing social values, and it has the highest probability of success for arriving at the best and most defensible solution for both issues.

5. How long will Arizona last?
Scientific data collected during the USS Arizona Preservation Project is being used to create a predictive model of Arizona to determine its natural lifespan. Complex computer modeling, known as a Finite Element Model, is the tool we’ve chosen to collate the data to predict the sequence of the battleship’s deterioration and give managers an idea how long we have before significant hull collapse occurs. The Park Service has teamed up with metallurgists and engineers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), in Gaithersburg, Maryland to conduct this analysis. These NIST scientists bring experience and techniques used for analysis of Titanic and the steel from the World Trade Center to bear on the Arizona investigation. Arizona is being reconstructed digitally in an incredibly powerful software package – we’ll start with Arizona as built on the day of the attack, then add the effects of the fatal blast and 60 years of immersion in salt water to bring us up to the present. Next, using data we’ve collected on the battleship’s corrosion rate both inside and out, we’ll project the model into the future to see how quickly and in what way the ship disintegrates and which will be the major structural features to give way first. This will give NPS and Navy managers the information they need to make tough decisions about when and if to intervene in Arizona’s natural deterioration.

As of a year or so ago (last I've heard), the NPS believed that a catastrophic collapse of Arizona's hull, leading to a major oil spill, is still some years off. In the meantime, they monitor the site closely to (hopefully) anticipate any major changes in the wreck. For a variety of reasons, all concerned want to keep as "hands-off" on this wreck as they can.

01-17-10, 02:44 PM	#58
tigone Mate Join Date: Jul 2008 Posts: 56 Downloads: 33 Uploads: 0	From the Arizona Preservation Project website (info from 2004): *4. Is there still oil on Arizona* ?** USS Arizona contains an estimated 500,000 gallons (2,300 tons) of Bunker C fuel oil, which has been slowly escaping since its loss. This oil, a potentially serious environmental hazard, is contained within the corroding hull. Catastrophic oil release, although by all indications not imminent, is ultimately inevitable. Understanding the complex and varied hull corrosion process and modeling structural changes and oil release patterns offers the most efficient method of developing a solution to this potential hazard. Because of the particular national importance of Arizona, any solution must incorporate a minimum-impact approach, or long-term site preservation will be compromised. Unnecessary impairment of Arizona’s hull is likely to be seen by many as more problematic than oil release. Addressing the oil release problem within a site-preservation framework as incorporated within this project provides the best balance of competing social values, and it has the highest probability of success for arriving at the best and most defensible solution for both issues. *5. How long will Arizona* last?** Scientific data collected during the USS Arizona Preservation Project is being used to create a predictive model of Arizona to determine its natural lifespan. Complex computer modeling, known as a Finite Element Model, is the tool we’ve chosen to collate the data to predict the sequence of the battleship’s deterioration and give managers an idea how long we have before significant hull collapse occurs. The Park Service has teamed up with metallurgists and engineers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), in Gaithersburg, Maryland to conduct this analysis. These NIST scientists bring experience and techniques used for analysis of Titanic and the steel from the World Trade Center to bear on the Arizona investigation. Arizona is being reconstructed digitally in an incredibly powerful software package – we’ll start with Arizona as built on the day of the attack, then add the effects of the fatal blast and 60 years of immersion in salt water to bring us up to the present. Next, using data we’ve collected on the battleship’s corrosion rate both inside and out, we’ll project the model into the future to see how quickly and in what way the ship disintegrates and which will be the major structural features to give way first. This will give NPS and Navy managers the information they need to make tough decisions about when and if to intervene in Arizona’s natural deterioration. As of a year or so ago (last I've heard), the NPS believed that a catastrophic collapse of Arizona's hull, leading to a major oil spill, is still some years off. In the meantime, they monitor the site closely to (hopefully) anticipate any major changes in the wreck. For a variety of reasons, all concerned want to keep as "hands-off" on this wreck as they can.