A proposed solution to the BP oil spill

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slick

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drill a relief valve with a shutoff switch into the undamaged portion of the pipe and vent the oil out of that, making it easy to weld a piece of metal onto the broken end of the pipe (thus sealing it), then close the relief valve.

discuss

if anyone knows an engineer who might know if we can do this, please forward it to him/her, thanks.

please forgive the quality of the drawing. but a simple idea only requires a simple drawing anyway

oilspill.JPG

 
i've got a better idea.

weld on a kind of inverted traffic cone shaped device. it will have a hole at the top just like a traffic cone, as well as several other holes spread all around the cone. each hole will be plugged with a ball of iron or kevlar or something, one by one, to slowly stop the flow, until they are all in place and hopefully the thing was made strong enough so it doesn't crumble under the sudden pressure. any idea why it wouldnt work?

 
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Well, my guess would be that welding at that depth would be a major PITA. The head of the well is at 5000 feet below the surface of the ocean. The deepest that a human has dived in a hard suit is 2000 feet. Dry hyperbaric welding welding has been simulated in a lab to a depth of 8200 feet.

I guess it's possible though because I've read reports of a pipeline between Oman and India being welded together at depths up to 11,500 feet, but I can't find anywhere what technique they used.

 
wilheldp_PE said:
Well, my guess would be that welding at that depth would be a major PITA. The head of the well is at 5000 feet below the surface of the ocean. The deepest that a human has dived in a hard suit is 2000 feet. Dry hyperbaric welding welding has been simulated in a lab to a depth of 8200 feet.
I guess it's possible though because I've read reports of a pipeline between Oman and India being welded together at depths up to 11,500 feet, but I can't find anywhere what technique they used.
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great, now we know that part is possible.

i've refined my idea.

http://leakidea.blogspot.com/2010/05/anoth...p-oil-leak.html

 
The odds of getting a dry dock down there with oil bellowing everywhere is slim. I haven't seen any advertised pressures, but a wet welded end cap would likely fail in short order (you will almost never seen wet underwater pressure welds, mostly sleeve applications to act as a cladding/corrosion for structural applications), not to mention you would first have to facilitate a machining operation underwater to provide a squared end prep, plus the hot tap operation. And even hot tapping will not stop the flow of oil out of the broken end, only reduce it, as you're not putting an inline valve there to divert the flow entirely.

 
Supe said:
The odds of getting a dry dock down there with oil bellowing everywhere is slim. I haven't seen any advertised pressures, but a wet welded end cap would likely fail in short order (you will almost never seen wet underwater pressure welds, mostly sleeve applications to act as a cladding/corrosion for structural applications), not to mention you would first have to facilitate a machining operation underwater to provide a squared end prep, plus the hot tap operation. And even hot tapping will not stop the flow of oil out of the broken end, only reduce it, as you're not putting an inline valve there to divert the flow entirely.
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You better listen to him, he's pre-med.

 
No, but I did weld in the parking lot of a Holiday Inn Express last night.

Seriously though, unless you could somehow dry dock it, making a weld underwater at those temperatures makes for a VERY strong likelihood of hydrogen-induced cracking, which is why you will rarely see wet pressure-retaining welds made. It could be feasible with some sort of clamp to cap off the end though. I have seen some pretty sophisticated clamping systems intended as "temporary" solutions to pipeline leaks, and ended up being left in service far longer than were intended.

 
I'm just going to assume that since BP has spent roughly $1 billion trying to cap this thing already, that they probably have some pretty good engineers trying to figure this thing out, and they're going with the most plausible solutions, instead of going after red herring. I'm also guessing they need something a little more detailed than an MS paint drawing as well.

 
Chucktown PE said:
I'm just going to assume that since BP has spent roughly $1 billion trying to cap this thing already, that they probably have some pretty good engineers trying to figure this thing out, and they're going with the most plausible solutions, instead of going after red herring. I'm also guessing they need something a little more detailed than an MS paint drawing as well.
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Perhaps they can install a screen at the end of the pipe, then pump the pipe full of red herrings until it plugs it up?

 
Maybe we should try injecting $1 billion dollars into the pipe (small denominations, $1 and $5 bills only), that may halt the rampant flow of oil.

 
my idea is more crude, but if you recall in Dubia (sp?) they built there own islands since they didnt have any, but we need a large flume or funnel to place all the way down there (about 100' in diameter) and then start dumping millions of tons of type 1 rip-rap, large pieces of broken concrete, etc down the flume until the leak slows down and then cap off with concrete until they can drill a new well... not sure which would take longer but thats my plan..

I dont doubt that BP has the best preutroleum engineers working on this problem but I doubt they have the best "thinkers" working on this problem..

 
benbo said:
Supe said:
The odds of getting a dry dock down there with oil bellowing everywhere is slim. I haven't seen any advertised pressures, but a wet welded end cap would likely fail in short order (you will almost never seen wet underwater pressure welds, mostly sleeve applications to act as a cladding/corrosion for structural applications), not to mention you would first have to facilitate a machining operation underwater to provide a squared end prep, plus the hot tap operation. And even hot tapping will not stop the flow of oil out of the broken end, only reduce it, as you're not putting an inline valve there to divert the flow entirely.
Click to expand...
You better listen to him, he's pre-med.
Click to expand...
I thought he was pre-law.

 
Trashman said:
benbo said:
Supe said:
The odds of getting a dry dock down there with oil bellowing everywhere is slim. I haven't seen any advertised pressures, but a wet welded end cap would likely fail in short order (you will almost never seen wet underwater pressure welds, mostly sleeve applications to act as a cladding/corrosion for structural applications), not to mention you would first have to facilitate a machining operation underwater to provide a squared end prep, plus the hot tap operation. And even hot tapping will not stop the flow of oil out of the broken end, only reduce it, as you're not putting an inline valve there to divert the flow entirely.
Click to expand...
You better listen to him, he's pre-med.
Click to expand...
I thought he was pre-law.
Click to expand...
Same thing.

 

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