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garybeck Donating Member (1000+ posts) Click to send private message to this author Click to view this author's profile Click to add this author to your buddy list Click to add this author to your Ignore list Thu May-20-10 12:40 PMOriginal messageStupid question... Can't they just put a big plug on the leak? If there is a leak in something, isn't the logical course of action to PLUG IT UP? Why the hell have they wasted 4 weeks scratching their heads, trying to divert or caputre the spewing oil, when any idiot can see it needs a big plug?Is it really that difficult to make a big concrete pad, and drop it slowly with some kind of steering mechanism so it lands right on top of the leak?Am I missing something?
BrklynLiberal Donating Member (1000+ posts) Journal Click to send private message to this author Click to view this author's profile Click to add this author to your buddy list Click to add this author to your Ignore list Thu May-20-10 12:42 PMResponse to Original message2. There is extreme outgoing pressure from the spurting oil..A plug cannot just be Updated at 12:17 AM Edited on Thu May-20-10 12:43 PM by BrklynLiberalinserted into the hole and be expected to stay there.It must be capable of countering the outgoing pressure...Think of water spurting out at high pressure from a huge firehose. It could not be stopped by merely putting a "plug" into it.
garybeck Donating Member (1000+ posts) Click to send private message to this author Click to view this author's profile Click to add this author to your buddy list Click to add this author to your Ignore list Thu May-20-10 12:48 PMResponse to Reply #214. OK, so calculate the pressure, and engineer a plug that's big enough we can send a man to the moon, but we can't make a plug big enough? hogwash. it's all about the math... figure out how big and heavy it needs to be and make one. supposedly there was supposed to be a safety valve on there that could handle the pressure. If a safety valve can be designed, so can a plug. whatever it takes... figure out how big it needs to be and go for it. I could easily see a design that allows the pressure to be diverted around the plub as its lowered down until the last minute, and then PLOP!
MUAD_DIB (1000+ posts) Journal Click to send private message to this author Click to view this author's profile Click to add this author to your buddy list Click to add this author to your Ignore list Thu May-20-10 12:57 PMResponse to Reply #1420. Make a conical screw/bore plug. Screw it in place (somehow) until tightens then set the pipe in a cement sarcophagus.
gristy (1000+ posts) Click to send private message to this author Click to view this author's profile Click to add this author to your buddy list Click to add this author to your Ignore list Thu May-20-10 12:43 PMResponse to Original message4. I read somewhere there's a 1500 psi difference between the oil and the water That's part of the reason why it's gushing out at such a high rate. I also read it's a 21" pipe. That's a lot of force that the plug has to withstand.Strelnikov_ Donating Member (1000+ posts) Click to send private message to this author Click to view this author's profile Click to add this author to your buddy list Click to add this author to your Ignore list Thu May-20-10 01:40 PMResponse to Reply #424. Actually it is more like 13,000 psi Edited on Thu May-20-10 01:41 PM by Strelnikov_Following is a calc from the Oil Drum:18,360' x 0.052 x 13.7 ppg = 13,000 psi reservoir pressure.5,067' x 0.052 x 8.5 ppg = 2,240 psi hydrostatic pressure of seawater at wellheadDifferential of 10,760 psiBut I think this has an error.The pressure in the deposit is water + rock = 13.00 kpsi + 2.24 kpsi = 15.24 kpsi static MSL.The pressure differential at the BOP is (water + rock) - water = 13 kpsi static seabedStatistical Donating Member (1000+ posts) Click to send private message to this author Click to view this author's profile Click to add this author to your buddy list Click to add this author to your Ignore list Donate to DU! Thu May-20-10 03:18 PMResponse to Reply #2444. That likely is the minimum pressure. You also have the pressure of natural gas inside the well. The organic material decayed into methane gas (expanding) that gas expansion adds even more reservoirs pressure.Actually pressure will depending on a number of factors including geography, and geographical history (over time the pocket could have been compressed, or reduced due to geological activity).Pressure could be 20,000 to 100,000 psi.Strelnikov_ Donating Member (1000+ posts) Click to send private message to this author Click to view this author's profile Click to add this author to your buddy list Click to add this author to your Ignore list Thu May-20-10 04:48 PMResponse to Reply #4447. .. Edited on Thu May-20-10 04:50 PM by Strelnikov_A) The unit volume of a gas is a function of pressure (and temperature). In other words, the unit volume is in equilibrium with the pressure and temperature.B) If the pressure in the reservoir exceeded the pressure exerted by the overburden, forces would not be in equilibrium. The volume of the reservoir would increase, raising the ground (sea floor), thus reducing pressure to equilibrium with the overburden.
DrDan Donating Member (1000+ posts) Click to send private message to this author Click to view this author's profile Click to add this author to your buddy list Click to add this author to your Ignore list Donate to DU! Thu May-20-10 12:43 PMResponse to Original message5. how about just pumping concrete into that leaking pipe sure seems to me that BPs priority is to salvage as many barrels as possible - and to avoid future delays in drilling.
BeFree (1000+ posts) Journal Click to send private message to this author Click to view this author's profile Click to add this author to your buddy list Click to add this author to your Ignore list Thu May-20-10 12:48 PMResponse to Original message13. They do have a big concrete pad Updated at 10:37 PM That dome they put on the bottom.They could set the thing on top of the pipe and crush the pipe crimping the flow.They could even use it like a hammer -- raise it up and drop it down until the pipe is crushed.It is sitting right there ready to go.The question is not if they can stop it from flowing.The question is: Why haven't they?BTW: here is a link to an animation of the spread of oilhttp://ocg6.marine.usf.edu/~zheng/research/Oilspill/ind...
Dank Nugs (35 posts) Click to send private message to this author Click to view this author's profile Click to add this author to your buddy list Click to add this author to your Ignore list Thu May-20-10 04:56 PMResponse to Original message49. A small yield nuclear bomb would seal it n/t
These DUmmies want to detonate a nuclear bomb, and contaminate the gulf, but they don't want a nuclear power plant.
We have to put this in a way they can understand.OKAY, DUmmie listen up. What happens to your plug when you fart a big one? exactly.
Isn't that how most of them are born?
Since they supposedly care so much for the environment, we should start plugging the hole with DUmmies.
