Oekotech

Spill Boom Length to Encircle a Slick: Slick Area, Ring Length, Sections & Connectors

A thousand litres spread a millimetre thick covers a thousand square metres. Ringing it takes more than a hundred metres of boom.

Spill The responder's estimate
L
mm

An estimate: slicks thin as they spread, so the area grows with time. Use the thickness for when the boom will be in place.

%

A ring is never a perfect circle; current and wind pull it out of shape.

Boom From the boom held
m
kg/m

Dry, from the data sheet; sorbent boom gains weight as it soaks up oil.

Boom Sections for the Ring

— sections

Ring length with slack divided by the section length, rounded up

Ring

Slick Area
— m²
Shortest Ring (Circle)
— m
Boom with Slack
— m
Boom in Whole Sections
— m
Connectors to Close the Ring
— connectors
Ring Diameter (as a Circle)
— m
Boom Mass to Deploy (Dry)
— kg

The slick area is the volume divided by an average film thickness, which is an estimate and changes by the hour; slicks are rarely even, so treat the area as a planning figure. A circle is the shortest boundary for an area; the slack allows for the ring's real shape. Sections are whole sections of the length you hold, and a closed ring needs one connector for every section. Mass is the dry boom. In current, containment boom fails above a certain speed whatever its length, and booms are then set at an angle to deflect oil rather than ring it. **This is a planning estimate, not a response plan: follow the site's spill plan and the authority directing the response.**

Spill Boom Length to Encircle a Slick: Slick Area, Ring Length, Sections & Connectors — free, with the formula and a worked example, at Textile School.