How many barrels of oil will the pipeline hold between point A and point B? Could have pumped 4,000 barrels, pump shuts off, 10,000 more barrels drain via gravity.
I'm always amazed at how much water comes out of a 1/2" cpvc plumbing pipe when I have to open the system for a modification/repair. How many feet in diameter is an oil pipeline? A barrel is less than 2 feet. Increasing diameter increases area exponentially.
Pi x R2(radius squared) gives you area.
2 foot diameter - 1 x 1 x 3.14 = 3.14 cu ft
4 foot diameter - 2 x 2 x 3.14 = 12.56 cu ft
8 foot diameter - 4 x 4 x 3.14 = 50.26 cu ft
16 foot diameter - 16 x 16 x 3.14 = 803.84 cu ft
830.84 x 100 ft length = 80384 cu ft
80384 cu ft = 601314.07792 gallons
601314.08 gal / 55 = 1096.619636364 barrels per 100 foot of 16' dia pipe.
5280 feet in a mile. Just a few miles of 8 or 10 ft dia pipeline could easily gravity drain 14,000 barrels.
Lol... Being an interior construction kinda guy that hit home!! And you do have a valid point but as stated, and they are correct pressure trips would shut down that system, including closing all valves(automatic) anywhere near that pressure drop. If these mechanisms were not in place, and the oil just spilled out the hole.... 14,000 barrels worth, well the fault lies soley with the engineering and architecture!!
Math is raciss.