Urethane Foam Floats for Dredge Pipe.

The feasibility of using urethane foam floats as replacements for conventional steel dredge pipe floats was investigated. Material and design requirements were determined, and two 18-scale models were fabricated. It was concluded that a full- scale model of a float of this design could be fabricated by personnel at a remote location with limited knowledge of materials and equipment for foaming operations but that only in-service testing of a prototype model fabricated in the field would indicate whether it would be able to satisfactorily withstand the severe conditions encountered in actual use. Author-PL