USS Arizona Research:
Oil , Ships and Method
National Park Service Research
Applied to Global Issues
World of Wrecks Conference 2011
David L. Conlin
Donald L. Johnson
National Park Service Submerged Resources Center
Present Memorial Dedicated 1962
Became NPS Unit 1980
National Historic
Landmark
Current Visitation Exceeds 1.4 million/year
USS Arizona Today
Research Domains
Corrosion Analysis
Environmental Monitoring
Structural Monitoring
Geological Analysis
Oil Analysis
Microbiology
Predictive Modeling: Finite Element Analysis
Develop Methods for General Application
The 1929 Refit Increased Displacement from
32,440 to 38,113 Tons and Fuel Capacity from
2,332 to 4,630 tons or 1.1 million gallons
Torpedo
Blister
Added 1,550
tons of fuel
capacity for
emergency
ops
Oil
Oil Bunker Locations
Presumed Intact
Presumed Destroyed
Bunkers are in the double bottom, hold, and platform decks beneath the
current mud line (approximate original water line)
Current Estimate: 600,000 gals (2,400 tons) remain
Oil and Microbial Research Objectives
Objective 1: characterize oil leaking from the ship
and in adjacent sediments
Objective 2: characterize rate of oil degradation
Objective 3: determine if aerobic microorganisms
degrade leaking Bunker C fuel oil
Objective 4: determine if anaerobic microorganisms
in sediments are capable of degrading the Bunker C
fuel oil leaking from the ship
Objective 5: determine microbial role in corrosion
Oil Release Points Located and Measured
1999 Leakage Rate: 1-2 liters/day
@ 1 locus
2006 Rate – 9 liters
@ 8 loci
Approx. 100 tons since 1941
Sediment Analysis
Location
Sample
Solvent-Extractable
Material (mg/g)
Stern section, starboard
side, 12 ft. from the hull
00-001
2.15+0.58
Stern section, starboard
side, 12 ft. from the hull
00-003
1.00+0.11
Stern section, port side,
10 ft. from the hull
00-032
1.23+0.17
Stern section, port side,
10 ft. from the hull
00-033
1.04+0.29
Stern section, bottom of
barbette no. 4
00-030
2.59+0.11
Bow section, gun turret
no. 1
00-031
0.99+0.61
Bow section, port side of
gun turret no. 1
01-041
1.37+0.38
Overall: low Hydrocarbon load in Sediment
Gas Chromatograph of USAR Sediment Extract
Identifying BHT in Arizona Sediments
Butylated Hydroxytoluene
(BHT)
BHT
Microbial Community Structure of USS Arizona
Microbial community structure of
four representative oil-degrading
cultures enriched on Arizona crude
oil
Aerobic microorganisms were
enriched from surface sediments
surrounding the ship
Each band in the DGGE gel can
represent a different microorganism
Predominant bands will be excised,
the DNA eluted from the band, and
the eluted DNA will be sequenced
and the sequence compared to a
database for identification
00-31 00-32 00-33 01-41
40%
60%
Aerobic Microbial Degradation of USS Arizona Oil
Detector Response
Laboratory Study
Uninoculated
Control
Time (minutes)
Detector Response
After 30 Days
Growth
Time (minutes)
Oil Sample Locations
Un-degraded
Oil
Degraded
Oil
Microbiology
Harvard University-NPS Partnership
Investigate Role of Microbes in Corrosion Process
Determine Ability of Hydrocarbon Degrading Microorganisms
to Degrade Steel
Conduct Experiment to Determine Corrosion Rate of Oil Containing Spaces
Identify Predominant Bacteria Associated with Corrosion
Corrosion Analysis
University of Nebraska, Lincoln-NPS Partnership
Objectives:
Metallographic Analysis of Original Hull Steel
Characterize Overall Corrosion Process with In Situ
Corrosion Measurements
Determine Corrosion Rates, both Interior and Exterior
Analyze Critical Variables, Particularly Concretion
Formation
Hull Coupon Collection
Joint project with NPS, MDSU One, NAVFAC
and Titan Maritime Industries
Allows Direct Corrosion Rate Measurement
August 2002
Hull Coupon Locations - Frame 75
Mud Line
Corrosion Rates of Hull Coupons
6
5
Mudline 31 ft.
4.5 mpy
icorr (mpy)
4
Seawater
(6 points)
3
icorr = 6.216 - 0.204 (D)
2
Mud
(2 points)
1
0
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
Depth below water surface, D (ft)
Laboratory Model of Corrosion Rate of Steel in
Sea Water is 4.5 mils per year (mpy)
40
Environmental Monitoring (cont.)
VideoRay ROV equipped with
YSI 600XLM Multiparameter Sonde
Interior
Interior Monitoring Data
2006
1983
90% Thickness Loss (approx. 2300 360 years)
Concretion Equivalent Corrosion Rate
icorr (CECR) = 0.8ρd (w/o Fe)/t (mpy)
where
ρ is concretion density (gr/cm)
d is concretion thickness (cm)
w/o Fe is total Fe in weight percent
t is time submerged (yr)
Legacy Vessels Presenting Risk of
Oil Pollution
michel 2005
USS Arizona Finite Element Model
Frame 70-90 – 80 feet of Hull
Image Courtesy San Diego Union-Tribune
Centerline Slice
Bow To Right
USS Arizona Finite Element Model
Frame 70-90
USS Arizona Finite Element Model
Frame 70-90
USS Arizona Finite Element Model
Frame 70-90
USS Arizona Finite Element Model
Frame 70-90
USS Arizona Finite Element Model
Frame 70-90
USS Arizona Finite Element Model
Frame 70-90
USS Arizona Finite Element Model
Frame 70-90
USS Arizona Finite Element Model
Frame 70-90
USS Arizona Finite Element Model
Frame 70-90
USS Arizona Finite Element Model
Frame 70-90
51,000 elements
Von Mises Stress distribution on the total weight
Von Mises stress distribution with uniform pressure of 2
kPa on the Upper, Main, Second and Third decks
Von Mises stress distribution with uniform pressure of 4
kPa on the Upper, Main, Second and Third decks
Von Mises stress distribution with uniform pressure of 6
kPa on the Upper, Main, Second and Third decks
Von Mises stress distribution with uniform pressure of 8
kPa on the Upper, Main, Second and Third decks
Von Mises stress distribution with uniform pressure of 10
kPa on the Upper, Main, Second and Third decks
Deformation distribution with uniform pressure of 10kpa
on the Upper, Main, Second and Third decks
Von Mises stress distribution with uniform pressure of
10kpa (between Main and Upper decks)
Von Mises stress distribution with uniform pressure of
10kpa ( Main deck)
Von Mises stress distribution with uniform pressure of
10kpa (between Second and Main decks)
Von Mises stress distribution with uniform pressure of
10kpa (Second deck)
Von Mises stress distribution with uniform pressure of
10kpa (between Third and Second decks)
Von Mises stress distribution with uniform pressure of
10kpa (Third deck)
Von Mises stress distribution with uniform pressure of
10kpa (First platform)
Von Mises stress distribution with uniform pressure of
10kpa (Second platform)
Note:
As-built condition (pre-sinking)
Stresses higher in vertical walls and
shell plates, as expected
Stress hot spots where the decks
connect with shell in upper decks this is due to the fact that the rest of
the upper decks are missing
Bottom supported by viscoplastic mud
(think Silly Putty)
Only loads are self-weight
Stresses are color coded, ranging from
blue (very small) through green, yellow,
orange to red, which corresponds to
near-failure
Broken elements shift load to neighboring elements
Upper decks corrode 5X faster than
those below the mud
10% thickness loss (approx. 1980)
• Stresses increasing in hull
• Deck beams becoming stressed
• Everything still well below
critical
20% thickness loss (approx 2020 -80 yrs)
30% thickness loss (approx. 2060)
• Stresses approaching critical
at curve of hull plates and inner
bulkheads
• Stresses also increasing significantly where the very thick
armor around the stack attaches
to the deck plates
50% thickness loss –(about 2140 200 yrs)
• Potentially some breakage of
torpedo blister at turn of the
bilge (lots of speculation in
that calculation, of course)
• Some local sagging of deck
plates
60% thickness loss - about 2180
• Considerable upper deck
failures
Failures of some inner walls
locally
More significant failures at turn
of the bilge
70% - about 2220 280 yrs
80% - about 2260
90% - 2300 or so
95% - 2320 or so
Lots of modeling artifacts
that need to be taken care
of - floating pieces, etc
Shows general collapse of
topside and bottom, but core
cylinder of inner bottom,
inner side tanks and main
deck relatively intact