Posted on 05/29/2010 2:27:01 PM PDT by boycott
Okay, I am not an expert in this field but sometimes the most simple ideas work the best. It should be obvious rather quickly that I am not an expert in this field.
I really just want to hear other's suggestions so I'll offer mine to spare you any embarrassment of your suggestions .... as silly as it may be ................
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As a temporary solution, a dome that is weighted at the bottom that is somewhat self-leveling -- something that would resemble sandbags joined/tied together so that it would seal off most, if not all, of the leak. The bags (or whatever the containers) could almost be self-leveling (it could be steel balls, chain links, sand, or whatever in the self-leveling bags). At the top of the dome is a large and obviously long pipe where the oil/gas mixture would be forced to exit at the surface into tankers. Pumps could be used to help maintain the flow-rate. Pumps may or may not be desired.
I am not sure of the type (or types) of pipe. I know there is a lot of pressure a mile below the surface. You may have to use a heavy steel pipe near the bottom. I wonder if something a little more flexible (imagine a big garden hose -- certainly much thicker and more ridgid.) could be used a little higher up. A combination of various types of pipe could possibly be used (steel, fiberglass, plastic, etc.). Pipe supports may be also needed.
If the area of the leak is 10', make the dome 20'+ around it. The shape isn't so important. What is important is sealing it off on the bottom and forcing the oil to the surface using pumps (if desired or needed.) via the pipe.
My suggestion is only for temporary recommendation until the relief well is done. You could then possibly drill closer to the area of the leak and I believe you could get there more quickly.
-- I believe all this could be done pretty quickly. Fusing large plastic pipe together could be done very quickly.
They might could use the first dome they tried to use or something like it. Put the weighted leveling devices on the sides and a steel pipe in the top of it. Then join the steel pipe with plastic (or fiberglass, etc., or whatever) as you get shallower. Use chain/ropes to lower the dome, pipes, pipe supports, etc.
I know my suggestion may be way off but sending golfballs and mud down the rig wasn't very complicated either. I am not fond of the NUKE OPTION I am hearing either.
I don't like the idea of waiting and doing nothing until August when they can drill the relief wells.
My thoughts are that if they could pick up just one idea from anyone, it might could help bring an end to this nightmare. It's day 40 and this slow-motion disaster continues before our eyes.
If you have any suggestions, I would love to hear them. Also, please send them to ......
http://www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com/go/doc/2931/546759/
BTW, I am in no way affiliated with DeepWaterHorizonResponse.com or any other organization involved in the response. I am just a guy that lives on the Gulf of Mexico that loves sealife / wildlife, beautiful sandy beaches, and our way of life.
Hey! Bill Ayers made bombs to blow up the Hetchy-Hetchy water pipeline and P G & E Substation near San Francisco. Ask him if he has any left over he could spare for Obummer, since they are old friends...
Plug it with something like an airbag from a vehicle, but longer and stronger, of course.
When I said cap off two at a timer....I didn’t mean cap off, I meant: connect a discharge pipe with or without a pump to a capture point...
Thanks. I like that idea even better. No sense in not getting so much oil when we could use it.
Post of the day!!!!!
Is it possible to skim off the water/oil mixture and then separate them? If it is then they should have big vacuums out there sucking it up and then processing it out and doing it until all of the oil is recouped.
As-fired fifty megatons- or it's as-designed one hundred?
It'd be entertaining anyway- as it enlarged the oil-spewing hole to a couple of hundred meters in diameter. :-)
I'm going to go with gathering up all of the hopelessly snarled strings of Christmas lights in the Western Hemisphere, rolling them into an enormous ball, and stuffing them in the hole.
Or something like it.
On a more serious note- I think it's already been suggested- but some sort of hemisphere with big flanges around the base, but with a valved vent on top. Like a brimmed hat. Open the vent so that oil can flow through it as you're emplacing the thing. Bury the extended base flanges in concrete blocks and then seafloor mud, then shut the vent. Bury under seafloor mud.
Something they tried for that toxic Indonesian mudflow a while back was large, concrete balls connected by heavy chain. I would try a variation of this.
A group of plumb bob shaped concrete plugs, in progressively larger sizes, and connected by heavy cable. The first two or three should fit into the hole, and descend within it. While this won’t stop the oil, it will slow it down and reduce the pressure on the final plug.
Once it has been plugged, either completely, or significantly reduced, be ready to pour an enormous amount of marine concrete over the whole thing.
Nuke it
Barnie Frank could go down there and just suck on it.
We just don’t want any more “Oil Gone wild”...The more we capture, the less dispersing agent we have to use, too.
2.5 million banned French burkas stuffed in the pipe oughta do the trick.
There is no nuke option..Period !!!! I know the ruusskies would like to see this due to what Reagan did to them...refer to 800 miles of blown pipe lines...they are still pissed..lol My reason is would you rather have a quarter billion gallons a day instead? More?
Back to the several leaks going on if they can stop that BOP without blowing the top off it is first priority! Slowly is a good thing for if it is to fast ....Bang you get more faster
Where is the drill steel? Well you may be looking at an end of it now.. WHERE IS IT? In or out of the hole?
Where is the riser? Yep it has some problems too....
Plug the riser to fast it goes away! OK have to stop FOX Alert
Something they tried for that toxic Indonesian mudflow a while back was large, concrete balls connected by heavy chain. I would try a variation of this.
A group of plumb bob shaped concrete plugs, in progressively larger sizes, and connected by heavy cable. The first two or three should fit into the hole, and descend within it. While this won’t stop the oil, it will slow it down and reduce the pressure on the final plug.
Once it has been plugged, either completely, or significantly reduced, be ready to pour an enormous amount of marine concrete over the whole thing.
I like this idea too. I believe a variation of the idea could work too.
I sure beats waiting around until August doing nothing but watching the Gulf of Mexico be destroyed.
I think a nuke MIGHT work. It would superheat the sandy bottom and turn it to glass. Although it would only last for awhile until the oil found its way around the edges of the hard sand. But it might buy some time until the relief wells are put in place.
Drop a drill pipe inside or drill into the casing of the well. Once the drill pipe is inside the well casing drop or drill down to the first neck-down(reducer) once past this point, activate an expansion plug(larger than then neck-down (reducer) attached to the drill pipe above the bit. The plug could be mechanical or expand with explosives.
Just a thought
A giant can of that expanding foam :p
30,000 Al Qaeda diaper bombers should wipe it clean.
Pray................
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