Do YOU Have an Idea For Stopping the Oil Leak? WhatshouldBPdo.com Wants to Know
For those who think you know what BP should do, here’s your chance to shine. (image: whatshouldbpdo.com)
With a massive leak still blasting crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico after 45 days and no solution in sight, people across America are offering their ideas for how to “plug the damn hole.” From a Long Island engineering prodigy to blockbuster movie director James Cameron, it seems like everybody’s weighing in—so why not you?
WhatShouldBPDo.com offers a central database of ideas submitted by ordinary Internet users, and allows site viewers to vote on which ideas are best. Ideas submitted so far range from the basic (“Insert an reverse umbrella device”) to the fancy sounding (“Giant Kevlar Bag Weighted at skirt over wellhead with hoses coupled to bag to retrieve outflows”) to the sarcastic (“Stuff it with 538 congressmen and senators, plus a few others”).
So what are you waiting for? Your idea could be the one that works!
Clark says: says:
I am a student and have idea just like everyone else. In physics last year we had two pieces of film that would block out the light. The pieces had fiber like stands that go in a horizontal direction and by placing the second one going in a vertical direction light would no longer go through. By applying this to oil, that is very thick compared to light, it will be able to stop to oil leak. Also the pressure will not stop it from working because it is not a metal. I believe by creating a larger version of these we can stop the oil from going into the ocean, even if it doesn’t it will slow it down and give expert more time to come up with an idea.
Allen Madison says: says:
I know how to stop this thing in one day, contact me…Allen
james Tierney says: says:
BP emailed me yesterday to tell me I’m the only person to submit this idea and they asked me a bunch of questions. I made a more precise image of what I proposed and they said they really liked this idea. it’s just like a mechanics hole tap with four flutes to allow pressure to escape until completely screwed in. It has a long pointed tip to help guide it into the well head and it has a gasket and head to permanently seal it to the well head. They could use a standard well drilling platform and pipe to get it there and drill it in to the end of the well head. Just like using a drill press. The pipe in the ground aint going anywhere so there is no need to secure the well pipe.
Michael Bailey says: says:
A large concrete dome shaped cofferdam that is ported and fed to tankers above. Lowered down over the valve. Large enough as to not build preasure all at once, but instead be fed through large feed lines to the tankers above….
Simon O' Dell says: says:
I believe the question is, what are they going to do after this event triggers the next cataclysmic event.
Here is what I believe to be the most effective solution(s).
A) Find a large politician, and cram him in the well.
B) Start collecting supplies to survive the coming of the earth’s opposite reaction to this major action that has taken place.
ken dye says: says:
Stop trying to plug the hole! Relief well is only SAFE solution. Contain the oil by simply lowering concrete base attached to sleeves of flexible material over the bop allowing the oil to rise to the surface where it can be captured. It is the same theory as you use to remove the oil from below ground. The oil will simply follow the path of the container to the top.
jerry says: says:
pinch the pipe closed with ajaws of life device in three places and then weld it shut already
John Beal says: says:
Idea is a reverse stent: a long series (1000 yards?) of retracted titanium barbs on a long catheter slid way down in the well pipe. Then the barbs could be extended by a slipping system in the catheter (an inner and outer sleeve). Possibly 3 to six barbs per foot. The titanium barbs are longer than the radius of the pipe so the pressure of the flowing oil will dig them into the walls. The 1000 feet of barb system will significantly slow the oil flow. Step two would be to have some titanium fan or disc system that could be deployed inside the barb system to create a massive clot. The pressure of the oil will make the plug tighter and tighter. A key to this system is the strength of the catheter walls (there needs to be some sort of through bar system as part of the deployment or the catheter will collapse.
Simple technology expensive materials!
Edwin Xavier Vicioso says: says:
I am an anesthesiologist and so my mind thinks in terms of anatomy and physiology. Arterial pressures at a macro level would be similar to the gushing oil pressures from the leaking well in the Gulf. The planet is alive and (in a way) is hemorrhaging oil at a significant rate and at astronomical pressures. If the earth had a large arterial blood vessel (iliac) that had ruptured, the leak in the Gulf would be it. In emergent situations, patients with similar issues which can compromise hemodynamic stability can be addressed with endovascular approaches.
Hence, a make shift (constructed in 24hrs) industrial sized endovascular stents could be created that could plug the leak and divert oil at the same time. A long slender torpedo shaped tube (vents that could open at the tip) with 3 stents which are spiked (are deploy at different distances along the device with inflated vulcanizied rubber) could be advanced into the leaking pipe. The torpedo tip would divert flow around device and could be advanced easily deep into the well against the enormous pressure of oil coming from the leaking well (Pipe in a pipe). The vented tip could slowly be opened as the stents inflate. This would reduce pressure around the stents as they are deployed and divert oil to the center of the stent deployment tube which could be collected at the ocean surface. Once inflated, the vulcanized rubber would push the stents against the inside of the pipes. The spikes would hold the stents in place with the inflated rubber obstructing flow. My name is Edwin Xavier Vicioso, M.D. (Anesthesia Residency at Cornell). Go to YOUTUBE and look up 3D Stent Animation by GFXReel for a better idea. This idea will work!!! I’ll build it with my own money. No cost to anyone except for the price already paid with damage to our planet!!!
John Burton says: says:
I believe a massive balloon approximately 4 inches thick that would have to be inserted into pipe and then filled with air.
this would slow or could stop the leak until it is capped or covered.
frank cappella says: says:
i think an explosion that is directed at the oil leak site to collapse the pipe and cover it over with the gulf bottom.
The BIG ANT says: says:
Identify the perimeter of the leaking oil, where the force is relatively minor. Place the base piece (widest part) of a funnel on that perimeter. Then continue to put smaller and smaller pieces of that funnel on top of the previous one, until the oil is being emitted from the smallest possible opening at the top of the funnel. That way, people can both direct and with the proper equipment contain the flow. From there, one would have to figure out how to collect the oil …. This will work!
James Aycox says: says:
Build a cap that has pipes that direct the flow of the leaking oil throught the cap exerting pressure on the cap downward. Used the leaking oil pressure to push the cap down. Once the cap is seated down, use external locking devices to secure cap. Have valve in the center of the cap that is open untill cap is secured, and then close the valve.
Jerome Moore says: says:
If a person have the perfect answer to stopping the leak, how would he go by letting BP know and yet get the credit and possible compensation? I believe I have the answer, its not easy but it is not hard either.
If interested email me at jmooreinventor@aol.com, Not jokes, no games, and only persons that are really with the Government or BP.
Jerome Moore / Inventor
Dan Gardner says: says:
Using tube sampling technology and umbrella shaped cones; a fix could be mfg in a few weeks.
Insert a shaft into the well head, the shaft will have several 24″ dia cones that are in the closed position facing down (the well is 20″ in dia) once a predetermined depth is reached, pull a second shaft that is inside the first to open the cones. The pressure will force open the cones against the well walls decreasing the pressure and slowing the leak.
Each cone will stop a certain amount of oil and reduce a certain amount of pressure. Assuming a tight seal cannot be made between the cones and the well walls and the next cone will catch what passes the one in front. With enough cones, the leak should stop or slow WAY down.
The length of the shaft, the quantity of cones and how to secure the shaft to the top of the well head to keep it in place needs to be determined by those who know.
Sampling tubes are inserted into drums of powders, liquids or the ground and the inner shaft is twisted exposing a pocket that samples will fall into, twist the inner shaft the other direction and the pocket closes allowing to withdraw the sample tube and get the sample. Use the same technology on a much larger scale and using the inner shaft to open the cones rather that open a pocket for a sample.
David J Hansel says: says:
What about this new FROG TAPE technology that they show on tv where the substance turns to a solid when it is exposed to water? Push it deep into the pipe dry and release it to harden and plug the pipe.
malinda says: says:
bladder seal
Inflatable B butt P plug
Josh Garrett says: says:
Thanks to everyone who commented on this post–your creative ideas are appreciated. However, I think my title for this post may be a bit misleading; the “here” in “Submit Here” made reference WhatShouldBPDo.com, the site that inspired the post. If you’d like your tidbits of engineering genius to be archived along with others and voted on by concerned citizens, go there.
Lorne Reid says: says:
Assuming the pipe that the oil is coming from is accessible or can be made
accessible, my plan follows:
1. Place a drill platform over the spot (they do this all the time and there
are lots of platforms available).
2. Lower a tapered pipe, call it the straw pipe (very small diameter at one
end expanding in diameter to a size greater than that of the original
pipe)down into the original.
Note: The length and diameter of the straw pipe would be critical to permit
entry into the original pipe while allowing the oil under pressure to escape
around it. Also, the taper length must permit penitration of the oil pocket
prior to the diameter closing off the original pipe. Holes could be added to
the taper to permit more pressure relief.
3. As the straw is guided into the original pipe, the oil will eventually
travel up the straw to be captured on the platform.
4. When the straw reaches the point where its diameter matches the original,
most of the oil flow and pressure should have been diverted topside.
5. A collar pipe of much larger diameter (in place around the straw pipe
prior to insertion) could be sent down to around the straw and original pipe
joint and provide as a leak chamber to the surface.
The primary reason this should work is that the straw should negate the
extraordinary pressure coming from the original pipe and permit a metered
and controllable capture process.
Nick says: says:
There should be a hydraulic clamp that latches onto the pipe where the leak is. This clamp would have a movable plug that can be placed over the hole with gaskets sealing it.
Randy Nuelk says: says:
1) Create an assembly of a pipe of slightly larger diameter than the well pipe that has a collar on one end capable of being tightened around the well pipe and a normally open valve at the other end that can be remotely controlled.
2) Slide the collar end of the assembly over the well pipe while allowing the flow to continue freely through the assembly.
3) Tighten the collar to the well pipe.
4) Close the valve.
If the pressure of the oil causes too much turbulence to allow the assembly to slide easily over or drop down onto the well pipe, construct another assembly that can attach to the well pipe further upstream of the turbulent end which has a number of long rods that can connect to the collar of the new assembly so it can be rigidly guided/slid down onto the end of the well pipe prior to tightening the collar.
Tomas Belsky says: says:
A large enough tank to fit over the current cap that would lead as a bagpipe does to different areas the main arteries go the surface ships with expanding type bladders to store oil these must be linked and have Straws that run surface to bladder. this system of containment depends on a topology of the ocean floor for the necessary tight fit
global emergency declared! get all tankers to gulf and every form of oil skimmer, syphon the infected area into great ships that pass the collected contaminated water through a strainer ( I saw an Iowa farmer demonstrate his Hay/straw (alfalfa) absorbing oil impressively. What to do with the contaminated straw? burn it for electricity. Exhaust contamination? mitigate and collect the residual waste as blocks the size of building blocks (easier to store).
charles gregson says: says:
insert a dynamite (or whatever explosive that’s best for this application) charge into the well several feet below the seafloor. Detonate to cave in the well. If the outflowi pressure of the oil is too great to counter with the insertion device, then drill into the seafloor to a location as close as possible to the well and then detonate next to the well.
Rosemary Marcus says: says:
p.s. Obviously the size of the concrete pipe could be adapted to the size needed to adequately fit over the leak. After this is fully in place so that the pressure is decreased due to most of the oil going up, bands of whatever material can seal the sections could be fitted around each section to prevent leaks from going out between sections. This seems so obvious so I wonder if there is some reason it isn’t being tried? If concrete will not hold together at that depth I’m sure there must be some material that will.
Rosemary Marcus says: says:
Lower huge sections of a concrete pipe (such as the kind used under roads for a small stream to go through) over the leak and keep adding sections until at the surface. Then the oil could be put into an oil tanker.
Drill a relief hole on an angle into the main hole, this will decrease pressure and allow the main hole to be capped off.
Plan z
Insert a deflated latex balloon into the hole and fill it with cement.
bryan anderson says: says:
Instead of trying to fit a device over the open pipe, why not slide a slightly smaller pipe inside with spring loaded barbs that retract when forced down the existing hole with a valve and a riser. Leaving the valve or series of valves open when forcing the pipe in the hole will reduce the up pressure and should allow the pipe to become securely lodged inside the larger pipe. This seems so simple to me that someone else must have thought of it and there must be a logical reason why it won’t work, I can’t think of any. I am sending this to you in hopes that could work and save a lot of environmental problems, but if BP or any one else profits from this I would like some of the credit. I am e-mailing this letter to other accouts with date and time stamps just in case.
Thank you.
Bryan Anderson
Rose says: says:
Blow it up! Stop killing the ocean and get over losing the money, and CLEAN UP OUR BEACHES while your at it stop talking and start doing.
John W. Lyttle III says: says:
OIL LEAK: Pull out the rig and re tap it in the same spot
Gordon Stevens says: says:
Hello,
I have an idea that I would like to submit asap on a way to stop the leak mechanically.
You can call me at work 802-886-2281.
Thank you for your time
Gordon Stevens
Micah Eaton says: says:
I agree with Ali Sabur. A hollow length of drill stick or some such could be sent down with a number of inflatable tires or more likely tire like devices on its end. They could be shielded with kevlar or metal plates to protect them from sandblasting harm. They could be inflated against the interior of the casing at a level that would cause a safe seal. The hollow drill stick would then conduct the oil. Concrete could then be pumped in behind the tires to seal the column between the casing and the drill stick. As long as the proper valves were attached along the drill stick once the concrete sets the drill stick could then be sealed.
The biggest problem with this idea is that the casing may not be intact. The original methane explosion happened in an outer casing ring, I think. That could have ruptured to the inside or it may just be why the blow out preventer failed. Worse, the leak’s origins may be more complicated than an inner seal can fix. The casing’s integrity would have to be ascertained beforehand.
Randy Brown says: says:
Put an inflatable donut shaped bladder around the bottom pipe. Then lower a slightly larger diameter pipe around it. Inflate the donut to make a seal between the pipes so that no oil escapes. Once the seal is established, suck the oil up through the larger pipe.
Kevin Murray says: says:
1) maybe a retro fitted Chinese finger puzzle type procedure with 4 anchors
2) or maybe a new gate vale retro fitted to slip over the existing pipe and having it open upon installation so no presser
bolt on and voila