Someone with a MechE degree tell me why this wouldn't work, regarding the Gulf Oil leak:
We drop a brick on it. A giant freaking brick.
Sail out over the leak with a giant box. Lash some floaters to it by heavy kevlar straps, so that they run under the bottom and we can let the box sink by unrolling the floaters farther along the kevlar. Then start pouring it full of quick-dry cement. Blow some air over the top or whatever it takes to get it to dry well. As it nears completion, cut out the bottom of the steel box and cut an upside down bowl in the concrete to channel the flow of oil. Drill down from the top to meet the peak of the bowl. Attack a heavy duty tube directly to the concrete, and attach a flexible hose like they're already using to that.
While this is going on, have some robot subs on the sea floor smoothing out the ground around the leak. Or if we can't do that, scan the sea floor and fabricate the bottom of the box to mesh with it.
Now drop it. Have some robot submarines at each corner to steer it on the way down and a few more on the path to advise the folks doing the steering of the currents they're going to have to correct for. As the brick nears the bottom, start pumping from it to create negative pressure. That way we don't worry about the oil & gas pushing out from the sides when we plug it. Once it's down, shore up the sides of the brick while continuing to pump.
Problem solved? Would a mechanical engineer step up and tell me what I'm missing here? I seems easy, compared to the budget that's already being thrown at not fixing the problem.
We drop a brick on it. A giant freaking brick.
Sail out over the leak with a giant box. Lash some floaters to it by heavy kevlar straps, so that they run under the bottom and we can let the box sink by unrolling the floaters farther along the kevlar. Then start pouring it full of quick-dry cement. Blow some air over the top or whatever it takes to get it to dry well. As it nears completion, cut out the bottom of the steel box and cut an upside down bowl in the concrete to channel the flow of oil. Drill down from the top to meet the peak of the bowl. Attack a heavy duty tube directly to the concrete, and attach a flexible hose like they're already using to that.
While this is going on, have some robot subs on the sea floor smoothing out the ground around the leak. Or if we can't do that, scan the sea floor and fabricate the bottom of the box to mesh with it.
Now drop it. Have some robot submarines at each corner to steer it on the way down and a few more on the path to advise the folks doing the steering of the currents they're going to have to correct for. As the brick nears the bottom, start pumping from it to create negative pressure. That way we don't worry about the oil & gas pushing out from the sides when we plug it. Once it's down, shore up the sides of the brick while continuing to pump.
Problem solved? Would a mechanical engineer step up and tell me what I'm missing here? I seems easy, compared to the budget that's already being thrown at not fixing the problem.
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Since the oil is gushing out of the hole, it is at a higher pressure than the force exerted by the water above the hole.
Water pressure = .03593 lbs per square inch x 12 inches/foot x 5000 ft depth = ~2170 psi. The oil pressure is higher than this. No matter how big the brick is, the pressure below it will be greater than the pressure on its top surface, and it will be pushed up. Unless the brick is sealed and anchored to the seabed, it will get out. As they found out, trying to pump the oil-water mix is the big problem.
My leading idea at the moment is to set it on fire right above the hole. Pump large amounts of oxygen down, then a heat source to get it ignited. Would need to make an oxygen ring to fit around the hole. And have a big air separation plant on a barge nearby to make the oxygen from air, and a power barge for the electricity. These are available for rent.
C12H26(liquid) + 18.5O2(gas) = 12CO2(gas) + 13H2O(gas) would be the rough equation, which works at 2200 psi. I just picked that hydrocarbon as a representative species, which is liquid at low temperatures. Heat release would be about 12 KW per kg, which is probably enough to keep it burning. A gas pocket would form around the hole, then the gas would come to the surface. Given the situation, a little more CO2 won't really hurt.