Posted on 05/10/2010 10:51:02 AM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
It must be damn cold down there. Interesting. I don’t recall any articles quoting the sea floor temp of the water in this area.
Somewhere I recall 1 degree C is the temp.
So where almost at zero degrees. 1.8F. A bit colder then I would have suspected. We need some global warming “hidden heat in the oceans” to quickly warm things up for the BP folks.
The venturi effect.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venturi_effect
I have a buddy who has an idea I think would work to stop the leak. He built a prototype this morning, and it works great. We just can’t figure out who to pitch it to.
Yes.
Hey, no fair going all laconic on me!
Why wouldn’t this idea work: Take a piece of small diameter pipe (say 1” or smaller). I’m assuming the pipe leaking the oil is not much bigger than 10”. Put an air fitting on the top end of the small pipe. Along the pipe, drill a small hole in the side. Clamp a bladder around the small pipe (a section of heavy duty balloon tubing, maybe made from the stuff the balloons were made of to float the 767 up from the Hudson), above and below the small hole drilled in the side. You could do this 2 or three times, depending on the length of pipe. Run compressed air (or compresses whatever)to the fitting at top of small pipe. Insert the small pipe down into the leaking riser, and send the air into the small pipe. The bladders inflate, sealing the riser, and all the pressure is going out against the leaking pipe. We made a prototype this morning with a half inch piece of copper pipe, drilled a hole in the side, clamped a piece of rubber inner tube above and below the drilled hole. Then we pumped water through a 6” piece of PVC pipe. When we stuck the copper pipe in and put the air to it, it immediately sealed up the pipe, totally. We could carry around the water filled PVC pipe by the copper one, no leaks. What’s wrong with this idea?
The well casing is 20” diameter and twisted like a pretzel. Plus the well was reported to be a 40,000 psi formation.
Well it doesn’t look like much pressure pushing oil out of the casing, no doubt due to the tremendous water pressure at that depth. You wouldn’t need it to be straight. You could push the smaller pipe through the leaking oil and inflate it.
Thanks Ernest_at_the_Beach.
Evaporation is a heat-losing process.
Dump alcohol on your hand, your hand will get cold, as it evaporates off.
Swimming pools in AZ are FREEZING cold, because the water evaporates off so fast.
So, if you offgass methane hydrates fast enough, you can freeze anything.
I am beginning to suspect that is what went wrong - they tapped into a high-pressure methane reserve, and when it blew - low pressure. So evaporation, just like in a fridge.
Or, by reducing the pressure on frozen methane, they could have caused it to boil over - causing a big blow.
Remember, the freezing point is not fixed. It depends entirely on pressure (think cake recipes in Denver).
Note - I am not an oil-driller guy. Just reading what gets reported.
Who’s email address is that?
That is the address for BP’s Deepwater Horizon suggestion box.
Will do, thanks
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