The original dome was that size, and it is already becoming ancient history. We just need a better one.
It is possible I am using the wrong word. Like a traffic cone, only cement, underwater, huge- isn’t that a pylon? Anyway, I intend to say “A huge underwater object that weighs 1000 tons and to the bottom of which can be affixed a pulley.”
Well, the whole point of the 1000 ton pylons was to counteract the titanic forces which I thought were at work, see my response to Squink. They are meant to sit on the bottom- we disagree about what a ‘pylon’ is. Since I was wildly overestimating, such huge weights shouldn’t be necessary anyway. I still think it will be a good idea to sink the dome into the mud to at least contain the oil from the bottom. Heavy ‘pylons’ would still be useful for that.
Well, it isn’t even that much pressure. It thought it could be as high as 2260 tons. As long as the dome stays put (ie lashed down with more appropriate ‘pylons’), even a few feet of muck should outmatch 15,000 psi (actually ~8000 psi over ~1.13 in^2 according to Squink) spread out over the area of the base of the dome.
I see where you’re going with this. Having battled much smaller pressures I’ve been amazed at what it takes to wrestle 30 psi worth of leak. You’re equating the weight of a large object with the capacity to seal. Think of 8 to 15,000 psi on every square inch of surface. You’re talking about a 50 foot diameter dome.
Whatever anchoring was done to the original well head has to be done to the entire dome. I think it would be a lot easier to cut the riser flush and put another riser on that can be evacuated. If they can neutralize the pressure in a pipe that is relatively sealed then they can pull the oil out during the interim it takes to drill the other 2 wells.
I don’t understand why the riser isn’t attached with a coupler (maybe it is but it sure isn’t working). If it was mounted like a tapered arbor then removing the clamps would allow the pressure to blow the upper coupler off. Done.
I don’t think the math works out that way. If the source of the pressure is a constant 8000 lbs/in^2 over .6 inches, wrapping the whole thing in a larger container does not mean every square inch of that container is subjected to 8000 lbs/in^2.
No, that pressure will be diffused over the entire surface area of the enclosure. (right?) Which sounds rather do-able to me using the latest data update.
You’d have to go into more detail with the rest of your comments- I’m not an oil insider.
Once the dome pressurizes you’re right back to the same pressure against any leak. Can you effect a good seal with 30 feet of muck against the wall of the dome? There’s nothing for the muck to press against unlike the mud in a drill hole. It has the confined space of the small tube. the pressure above acts against it to force the mud sideways.
My thinking was more along the lines of a plunger. If the leak is really trying to force the cap away like it is a rocket, making it drag 30 feet of earth with it ought to slow it down. If the pressure forces the cap 10 feet out of the ground, in effect you have 10 feet of earth pushing down on the leak. I assume the earth is solid enough at that depth that it doesn’t blow out of the cap, but rather stabilizes.
But maybe the materials can’t handle it. Your post implies as much.
The problem is, no one has a clue - it’s a well at record depths for offshore. There is absolutely nothing more BP would like to happen that the US Government to take charge but they won’t because, to make the point again, no one has a fucking clue what to do.
Ftr, this is, sorry, ‘was’, an American owned rig* BP were leasing in partnership with Halliburton among others American-owned companies.
At least ‘American owned’ in the sense it was American until it went tax dodging in the Cayman’s.
Haliburton is headquartered in Dubai to avoid paying US taxes. BP is British. Transocean is headquartered in the Caymans.
The International Corporations will play movable chairs to avoid regulation and taxes. We have to reach across the international borders to get control over the companies.
BP is lying over and over while covering up the mistakes it made and is still making. They have a huge skimmer that takes oil out that has not even been deployed. I saw one of the La. officials say he had it moved to a parking lot obvious to all to pressure BP. into using it. The dispersants BP uses is to weaken the oil cloud . They have lied about the amount of oil being released at all occasions. They have lied about the explosion too.
I think Obama should deploy whatever National Guard is available to set up water barriers and clean the oil spill as it happens. It may not be effective, but it would be good press.
I don’t know of this has already been posted in this thread, sorry if it has. Here is a link to a profanity laced screed claiming that BPs efforts at booming the spill have been criminally inept. Quite a funny rant actually, despite the depressing nature of the subject. I cannot attest to the validity of the opinions expressed there, but I buy that it’s legit FWIW.
I realize I’m just armchair quarterbacking here but I think BP just verily screwed the pooch.
The latest plan was to cut a pipe off with a diamond saw. This of course didn’t work so they had to use shears, which creates a more jagged edge which pre-excuses this latest attempt’s failure.
So riddle me this… why didn’t they use the shears to cut the pipe off and then use the diamond saw to smooth it out? If the pipe is already cut then you just have to cut a small piece (a little bit more than the jagged edge really) and you should be able to get a clean cut because the weight of the rest of the pipe is only on one side of the blade now instead of on both sides.
I was thinking the exact same thing. I also thought about a relief cut (like when cutting down a tree). It never occurred to anyone that a mile long tube with 1/2 inch steel walls would have a teeny bit of stress on it. It looks like they ripped it down to the flange based on the leaking fluid. I bet there was an old-school mechanic in the background trying to tell them this.
With so many experts on here I’m surprised none of you has offered to sort the problem out - BP wouldn’t surely pay $50 million for the solutions offered here, and you’d save the environment!
It’s just a phone call away, folks. The phone is in the real world though, not the Internet.
I tried screwing a sprinkler onto my garden hose yesterday, while it was running. That did NOT work out well for me.
Meanwhile at the bottom of the sea (video), the capping attempt is not looking good.
Apparently, the cap is on, but hasn’t gone down far enough to seal against the flange. Oil is still squirting everywhere.
It’s not clear to me why they didn’t take the time to clean up their shear cut with a pass of the diamond saw. I suppose there’s a lot of pressure to “fix it, fix it now!”
Was that you who said above that all that oil was coming through a 0.6 inch hole? Is that true, or you “messing with my head”?
I mentioned it to co-workers and got odd looks, but no comments.
Yeah that was me. A 0.6 inch hole can deliver a lot of fluid at 8-9000 psi. The number came off discussion at the Oil Drum. You can probably find a calculator for such things at Engineering Toolbox.
It has been my experience that engineers don’t listen to mechanics (the ones who actually do the work). The engineers I’ve worked with who listen are those who have a general background of mechanical skills. You can’t buy this knowledge in a school. It’s the reason why new engineers have so much trouble working on old technology. They weren’t there to work out the bugs and understand why things were done a certain way.
And it’s not just a phone call away. You have to be standing there watching what’s going on to affect change. What it takes is someone in a leadership position to recognize this phenomena and hunt down the people on the greasy side of the equation. This is universally true in every engineering endeavor.
I have suspected that BPs actions have had a bottom line to it. They don’t want to plug up a well that could make billions for them. I see their actions as trying to keep the well available to still pump later. They are avoiding just plugging it up forever.
I don’t think so. Without a functional BOP it’s going to get plugged. The relief wells are to plug it and anything done to the BOP now is strictly to lessen the flow until that happens. They may be able to tap into the well down the line but it would require a new BOP and that can’t be done without the government authorizing it. The microscope they will be under will look like the Hubble telescope.
