The National Shipbuilding Research program commissioned Ocean City Research Corporation to perform a two-year study to investigate the productivity of water jetting in the ship building and ship repair industry. Work was performed for the Surface Preparation and Coatings Panel, of the NSRP, a consortium of Industry and Government officials with the mission of increasing the competitiveness of United States shipbuilding and ship repair.
OCRC engineers traveled to a variety of ships and offshore structures that were either in new construction or under maintenance dockings. Structures included Navy aircraft carriers, amphibious assault ships, chemical product tankers, oil tankers, and offshore platforms. Data was gathered on production rates of coating removal from various freeboard, underwater hull, ballast tank, and non-skid decking areas. Contamination removal efficiency, impact on the adhesion of coatings, and worker productivity issues were also studied.
Data has been compiled and presented in the form of a Final Report to the NSRP Panel. The details of the study and findings were presented to a worldwide forum of marine corrosion engineers at the Steel Structures Painting Council's National Conference in Orlando, FL in November 1998.
Highlights of the study were published in the conference proceedings. No such study has ever been published on this quickly emerging technology. The information presented in the report will be used by shipyard planners, engineers, estimators and contractors for making sound decisions about using waterjetting for marine coating removal
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