Solving GOM Blown out Well

[southard2]

Perhaps we should all brain storm to come up with a solution to the blown out well in the Gulf of Mexico. I may be really late so if there is already another thread please let me know. Here is my idea though it would take a while.

I suggest building Circular pyramid using fast curing concrete caisson rings. The rings would be way over sized and very thick to allow for staggering the sizes as well as shear keys. The over sizeing of the rings would allow them to be easily stacked up until they were taller than the blow out preventer. At this point the ring diameters would slowly shrink. For each level of size change a ledge would be formed. Several pipes could be fitted through each successive ledge allowing some of the flow to start coming up the pipes as the pyramid begins to form. Of course at the top of the pyramid a pipe larger than the busted one would fit up. The pipes could be made to stay in place with wedges or something like that. Or perhaps they could be fitted with wing tips or something that would expand once the pipes were fitted into the holes. With so many pipes coming out of the concrete pyramid the flow and pressure in each pipe would be much less than the original. Plus because the progression towards the top would be slow by the time the final pipe is ready to be placed the pressure should be much lower.

I think this could be accomplished in about 20-30 days with lots of manpower and precision. If it failed the failure would be due to the difficulty in placing the concrete sections. We would find out pretty fast if it was too difficult. Plus if it failed the oversizing of the rings would compromise other repair attempts.

So what does everyone think? I'm only a structural engineer so I'm simply combining shear mass with a bit of hydraulics.

John Southard, M.S., P.E.

http://www.pdhlibrary.com

 

[LSPSCAT]

1. There are numerous threads in the petroleum engineering and offshore structure forum dealing with this. Given you did not figure this out I doubt your capabilities in devoloping a solution to a blown out well.

2. Did you ever think there are some things you just do not have enough information on to even start thinking about a solution? This is one of them. I doubt anyone here has enough expertise or enough specific knowledge of the situation to offer meaningful advice. (Other than those in the deepwater drilling industry) It is not critical of our intelligence in this forum or are creativity...it is simply an observation that our knowledge may not be particular to this situation.

3. Have you ever worked on a job when "experts" come in to solve a problem? I have..and things typically get worse.... then the experts lose interest and the grunts on the ground work it out just like they usually do.

 

[southard2]

LSPSCAT I bet you are just loved around the office. Instead you could have just said I'm not interested or perhaps nothing at all.

1) Yeah I kind of figured that but I wanted to discuss this on the structural board.

2) Of course I'm not an expert in the field and I never suggested a bunch of structural engineer's take over BP. I just wanted to see what kind of imaginative ideas that others might come up with. What's the harm in that? Everything you said basically goes without saying.

3) Regarding statement #3 I guess it really depends on which experts and which grunts your talking about.

And finally if you don't have something nice to say simply don't say anything at all. Geeeez!

John Southard, M.S., P.E.

http://www.pdhlibrary.com