Posted on 05/31/2010 2:38:39 PM PDT by omega4179
Very interesting.
(Excerpt) Read more at bp.com ...
I observed the flange carefully and it has a curved taper to the pipe size (outer diameter). You can clearly see where the flange is welded to the pipe. It looks like a leak at or just above that weld that might be where the diamond saw cut was aborted. They have to seat below that elevation.
I think the cap rubber lining is made to conform to that upper flange curvature and seats when the clamp looking devices on the side grip the underside of the flange connections and are somehow pulled down to get a good grip.
I guess since I was away for a while I still am not sure what the shape of the riser cut is. I imagine the cut is still not as clean as they were initially hoping for so there are still issues with extra leaking and the (hopefully very small) possibility the seal breaks over it. I heard that once it was cut they did in fact return to using a saw again to try and smooth it. If so I would think that even if the cut was not perfect it is still not a completely uneven mess and they have some elbow room to get the cap on, so to speak. Have you been able to tell what the situation is >
One from inside the drill pipe and the rest from the annulus around the outside of the drill pipe?
BP Silver and BP Gold.
Crude and methane.
the top of the stub looked really hacked up to me
but if they can contain a good percentage of the outflow it will be a big step forward
Different scenario, if the BOP activates it will kill the well safely.
Which I imagine is why they are probably making sure it does not completely even though it sounds good. I gotta say though, from what I have seen when I was able to watch it, this is one of the most addicting things ever shown on the internet since televisions or the internet were invented, if not the most addicting thing ever put on a screen of any kind.
Something I’ve been wondering. Could it be that the bell that is intended to slip over the top of this is actually intended to slip down and seal on the outside of the flange, rather than on the 21” pipe itself? In that case, it doesn’t matter if the cut on the pipe is erratic, only that the bell is deep enough to fit over it.
It’s very interesting if you are a mechanic or engineer for sure or just like working on “stuff”
I doubt most liberal arts types would watch for a minute without getting totally bored
Looks like a wax seal for a toilet
I’ll go out on a limb here and say I think they should abandon
trying to get a seal around this mangled stub. If it’s possible the bolts should be cut on the flange since there is no longer a lot of pressure differential there. Then they would have a nice clean straight flange to deal with. That’s my 2 cents worth.
LOL I think you’re right
That would make sense, it might be that if they did not initially plan on doing that that they will switch to it in order to ensure that the seal works even though the cut was somewhat disappointing. I did hear they had several kinds of seals in order to accommodate various degrees of smoothness in the cut, in addition to trying to smooth it out with the saw. So there are some preparations being made, the question, as usual, is if it is enough.
>>I doubt most liberal arts types would watch for a minute without getting totally bored
Or until their crocodile tear ducts ran dry.
True dat. Real people doing real jobs must be boring as hell to them.
has anyone given an accurate pressure of this gusher?
I’ve seen numbers ALL OVER the place!
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