Solution to the BP Oil Spill

Quote from auspiv:

Just some quick numbers for your plug idea-

The diameter of the riser pipe is 21 inches. This yields an area of pi/4*21^2 = 346 square inches.

The pressure is roughly 2500 psi where the oil is escaping the BOP.

346 square inches * 2500 pounds per square inch = 866000 pounds.

Your simple plug will need to weigh at least that amount to simply counteract the force of the flowing oil. To create an effective seal, you'll need much more force.

This is a very bad idea anyways though because they believe the well casing has been compromised subsurface, and they fear that if they try to stop the flow (increasing the pressure on the subsurface parts of the well), the well could blow out again (more or less) underneath the sea floor. That is very bad news because it could 1) blow off the BOP, causing even more oil to flow forth or 2) the relief wells would be dealing with many more unknowns, and it would be possible the kill effort would be unsuccessful due to the kill fluids flowing out of all the unknown orifices in the casing.
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Well... Based on this 866000 / 2.2 = 393636.3636 KG ... So a plug weighing about 1 metric ton should be more than enough... The question is whether or not the remaining pipe and BOP can manage the weight!??? I don't know because I’m not sure how much weight it would be able to manage... It might topple over. Nevertheless, if everything else fails as a last ditch solution it might work if the BOP and the entire assembly was removed… Then all you would have to do is plug the hole in the ground.

As for the well "blowing out" again underneath the floor...!? Well... That is an unknown... I don't think that it would. Wouldn't burying the region under cement help to seal that region of the sea floor?
 
Quote from unretired:

Nah ... it is carbon that has the sixes ... Atomic #6: with 6 electrons, 6 neutrons and 6 protons.:eek:
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So, they were right, the devil IS in the details! ; )
 
Quote from CoolTraderDude:

Well... Based on this 866000 / 2.2 = 393636.3636 KG ... So a plug weighing about 1 metric ton should be more than enough...
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Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
 
Quote from CoolTraderDude:

Well... Based on this 866000 / 2.2 = 393636.3636 KG ... So a plug weighing about 1 metric ton should be more than enough...
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393636 kg = 393.636 metric tons, NOT ~1 metric ton. The metric system makes conversions like this easy.

Either way, they will not be stopping the flow at the well head for any reason due to the integrity concerns.
 
Quote from CaptainObvious:

I think it's an apples and oranges comparison. Beyong the logistal and technological challenge of doing this a mile beneath the sea, something tells me the sea bed will not come apart like earth at the suface. I would suspect it would tend to crack and split more than fill in. What could happen is a huge new path could be created which would result in the oil being released all at once. Can you imagine 100,000,000 barrels of oil coming up that fast? I just don't think we can chance that, no matter how slim the chance of it happening. What we have now is a mess, but over time, it's a managable mess.
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The explosive would be put 3 miles down in bedrock. Back in the 60's a 30 kiloton weapon was about as small of a fusion device that could be made. Today they can be made with yields smaller then one kiloton.
 
Quote from Haroki:

Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
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Oooops.... That was a really stupid mistake on my part...

Quote from auspiv:

393636 kg = 393.636 metric tons, NOT ~1 metric ton. The metric system makes conversions like this easy.

Either way, they will not be stopping the flow at the well head for any reason due to the integrity concerns.
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Yeah... You're right...

In my own defense I was doing other things at the time. I don't usually focus too much when I post on ET...


My bad...



:(
 
Quote from jficquette:

The explosive would be put 3 miles down in bedrock. Back in the 60's a 30 kiloton weapon was about as small of a fusion device that could be made. Today they can be made with yields smaller then one kiloton.
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I'm not too sure as to what a nuke would accomplish except for destroying the BOP and the well!? From what I know explosions are usually used to put out fires that are out of control. That is, when a well ignites explosives are detonated above it to consume the oxygen and to put out the fire. But underwater detonating a nuke over a well could have other devastating effects.
 
Quote from jficquette:

The explosive would be put 3 miles down in bedrock. Back in the 60's a 30 kiloton weapon was about as small of a fusion device that could be made. Today they can be made with yields smaller then one kiloton.
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Oh you're saying 3 miles under the earth in the bedrock... Missed that for some reason... Like I said, I don't focus too much when I post on ET... So the point would be to bury it...?

Maybe that might work... Anybody know if the oil could ignite at those temperatures even if underwater...?
 
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