A New Spilled Oil and Gas Tracking Autonomous Buoy System and Application to Marine Disaster Prevention System

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 23226017
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (S)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Research Field: Naval and maritime engineering
• Research Institution: Osaka University
• Principal Investigator: KATO NAOMI 大阪大学, 工学(系)研究科(研究院), 教授 (00138637)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): SUZUKI Hiroyoshi 大阪大学, 大学院工学研究科, 准教授 (00252601) ; SENGA Hidetaka 大阪大学, 大学院工学研究科, 助教 (60432522) ; OKANO Yasunori 大阪大学, 大学院基礎工学研究科, 教授 (90204007) ; BAN Takahiko 大阪大学, 大学院基礎工学研究科, 講師 (60454485) ; TAKAGI Yohei 大阪大学, 大学院基礎工学研究科, 助教 (40435772) ; YOSHIE Muneo 国立研究開発法人港湾空港技術研究所, 新技術研究開発領域, 領域長 (80359231) ; TANAKA Toshinari 国立研究開発法人港湾空港技術研究所, 新技術研究開発領域, 主任研究員 (40344311) ; ARIMA Masakazu 大阪府立大学, 大学院工学研究科, 教授 (70264801) ; KOBAYASHI Eiichi 神戸大学, 大学院海事科学研究科, 教授 (90346289) ; CHIBA Hajime 富山高等専門学校, 商船学科, 教授 (20369961) ; SAKAGAMI Norimitsu 東海大学, 海洋学部, 准教授 (20373102)
• Project Period (FY): 2011-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: 油やガスの流出事故 / 重油やガスのプルームの追跡 / 海中ロボット / 浮遊式ブイロボット / 油やガスの拡散シミュレーション / データ同化 / 早期発見

Outline of Final Research Achievements

There have been many major sea oil spills in recent years. These spills damage not only the ocean environment but also regional economies. In this study, an autonomous underwater robot for tracking and monitoring of spilled plumes of oil and gas from subsea production facilities, and a floating buoy robot for autonomous tracking of spilled oil on the sea surface and transmission of useful data to a land station through satellites in real time were developed and repeatedly tested at sea to establish those operations. On the other hand, the accuracy of simulations for predicting diffusion and drifting of spilled oil and gas by incorporating the real-time data from these robots was improved. The system described above can be applied to regular environmental monitoring and early warning around subsea production facilities, the collection of spilled oil drifting on the sea surface, and the deployment of oil-recovery devices.

Free Research Field

海洋防災