Magnetostrictive Sensor Development for Detection of Ballast Water-Sediment Interface Depth.

Abstract

Amphibious vessel rapid ballast tanks are carriers of non-indigenous species (NIS) that can hide out in the residual ballast water a"nd sediment that remains in tanks after the tanks are emptied. To comply with upcoming regulation to prevent the spread of NIS, inf""ormation is needed on the amount of residuals in these tanks. However, ballast tanks are difficult and expensive to accessafter shi""p deployments and residual water and sediment information cannot be gathered while they are in use. Consequently, a sensor is needed" that can determine the range of water and sediment in these tanks during normal ballasting operations. The goal of this project is to design and build sensors using rolled sheet Galfenol (FeGa) or Alfenol (FeAl) magnetostrictive alloys and to work with researchers at NSWC/CD to demonstrate that these sensors can accurately determine the depth of sediment and water in ballast tanks by locating the depth of the interfaces between water sediment and air in rapid ballast tanks.This abstract is publicly releasable

Document Details

Document Type
DoD Grant Award
Publication Date
Jan 23, 2018
Source ID
N000141812091

Entities

People

  • Alison B. Flatau

Organizations

  • Office of Naval Research
  • United States Navy
  • University of Maryland

Tags

Readers

  • Acoustical Oceanography.
  • Environmental Engineering
  • Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering.