Welcome BP Engineers
I can only hope that you find this idea and it's as sound as I hope.
I want to seal off your broken well, as close to permanently as possible.
Therefore I introduce to you, (figuratively), Bennett's Buttplug. The device which I hope will stop shit pouring out into the Gulf.
This is just a small scale mock-up. I expect you fellas are clever enough to scale it up to suit requirements such as pipe diameter and so forth. This is just a series of nuts, washers and toilet valve rubber washers. Simple stuff. With your oil pipe you'd need it much larger and with heavier seals, probably in something grippy and oil resistant.
In practical use at full size, I expect this plug to be perhaps 10 or more feet long. Perhaps longer depending on what your calculations yield about pressure, friction, flexibility, relative diameters, deflection, compression and so forth. As far as I can determine from here under my shade-tree, you need as many of those seals as you can manage to put on a shaft before it becomes unwieldy for drones of submersibles to put into place.
This plug is NOT designed to be used by itself. It may hold up to various pressures and stay in place when inserted but I expect that a combination of cold, the natural lubricity of oil and probable damage to the seals upon insertion, that it will not completely seal the pipe by itself. Therefore, this device would be placed in the open top of the well, then, you resume use of drilling mud to effect an enhanced top-kill. You use the mud to drive the plug deep into place and then maintain enough pressure to keep it seated in place. You equalise the pressure on both sides of the plug and you're home and hosed.
Predrilling holes down the length of the pipe to the same length as the plug to allow oil to escape whilst you start inserting it would remove the problems of the oil pushing it out of place until you can push it in far enough to engage with the pipe. Twisting it whilst inserting will help. You wont need any lube... ;)
To illustrate what happens when the plug is inserted, I've taken a pic of my crude proof of concept below.
As you can see the deformation of the seals gives you huge surface area and frictive interface between the plug and the pipe wall. Physics is working for you. It took about 5-6 kilos of force to push this plug into this tube. I tried pulling it out and failed. I put all of my 95 kilogrammes and muscles into trying to pull the tube off the plug which was held captive by the tail in a vice. I pulled the bench to which the vice is attached, free from its moorings in the floor. I think this is a fairly successful test.
Now I grant you, this is not 1500m below sea level, nor was it done in waters below freezing, nor was I pulling with the assistance of considerable fluid pressure coming from the pipe. Whilst I'm not an expert like you guys, from the footage I've seen the oil does not seem to be under a huge ammount of pressure. Given its 1500 down, perhaps thats deceptive. In any case. Here is my idea. Try it if you think it may work. I think it will but as I said, I'm not the expert. You guys are.
Please fix it guys. I love the ocean as do many others. Now is your time to shine.
I want to seal off your broken well, as close to permanently as possible.
Therefore I introduce to you, (figuratively), Bennett's Buttplug. The device which I hope will stop shit pouring out into the Gulf.
This is just a small scale mock-up. I expect you fellas are clever enough to scale it up to suit requirements such as pipe diameter and so forth. This is just a series of nuts, washers and toilet valve rubber washers. Simple stuff. With your oil pipe you'd need it much larger and with heavier seals, probably in something grippy and oil resistant.
In practical use at full size, I expect this plug to be perhaps 10 or more feet long. Perhaps longer depending on what your calculations yield about pressure, friction, flexibility, relative diameters, deflection, compression and so forth. As far as I can determine from here under my shade-tree, you need as many of those seals as you can manage to put on a shaft before it becomes unwieldy for drones of submersibles to put into place.
This plug is NOT designed to be used by itself. It may hold up to various pressures and stay in place when inserted but I expect that a combination of cold, the natural lubricity of oil and probable damage to the seals upon insertion, that it will not completely seal the pipe by itself. Therefore, this device would be placed in the open top of the well, then, you resume use of drilling mud to effect an enhanced top-kill. You use the mud to drive the plug deep into place and then maintain enough pressure to keep it seated in place. You equalise the pressure on both sides of the plug and you're home and hosed.
Predrilling holes down the length of the pipe to the same length as the plug to allow oil to escape whilst you start inserting it would remove the problems of the oil pushing it out of place until you can push it in far enough to engage with the pipe. Twisting it whilst inserting will help. You wont need any lube... ;)
To illustrate what happens when the plug is inserted, I've taken a pic of my crude proof of concept below.
As you can see the deformation of the seals gives you huge surface area and frictive interface between the plug and the pipe wall. Physics is working for you. It took about 5-6 kilos of force to push this plug into this tube. I tried pulling it out and failed. I put all of my 95 kilogrammes and muscles into trying to pull the tube off the plug which was held captive by the tail in a vice. I pulled the bench to which the vice is attached, free from its moorings in the floor. I think this is a fairly successful test.
Now I grant you, this is not 1500m below sea level, nor was it done in waters below freezing, nor was I pulling with the assistance of considerable fluid pressure coming from the pipe. Whilst I'm not an expert like you guys, from the footage I've seen the oil does not seem to be under a huge ammount of pressure. Given its 1500 down, perhaps thats deceptive. In any case. Here is my idea. Try it if you think it may work. I think it will but as I said, I'm not the expert. You guys are.
Please fix it guys. I love the ocean as do many others. Now is your time to shine.