Why is the diamond wire saw stuck?

[yella_dawg]

There is a high probability that the 6 5/8 inch drill pipe is stuck in the blowout preventer. That means it is also inside the riser pipe. The saw has to cut through not only the riser pipe, but the drill pipe as well. The drill pipe has a cross sectional area of a bit over 34 square inches. Best estimate for the wellhead pressure is 26,000 psi. That means there is a bit less than 900,000 pounds or 450 tons of force trying to squirt the drill pipe out of the hole. That kind of force could easily pinch the saw "blade". It could also shove the drill string right through the bottom of the drill ship sitting above the BOP. Of course, once the drill string squirts out like the head of a pimple, the leak becomes exponentially worse.


BP knows what they're doing, right?

[hlthe2b]

1. Blood diamonds stuck in a "blood" oil well...

Sadly, a bit of poetic irony in that...

[dgibby]

2. CNN just reported that it appears the saw is now free. n/t

[yella_dawg]

4. Did they extract the blade?

Or just snap it off? If the blade pulled free, then my scenario is bunk. The drill stem is secured in the BOP mechanism.

[dgibby]

19. It's a diamond studded wire.

I'm not sure what happened. CNN didn't say.

[SpiralHawk]

3. Got them Old Saw Binder Blues

Again. Been there. Done that. Got them mean old saw binder blues again. BP needs to follow the technique revealed in this Crop Circle.

[Subdivisions]

10. Yea, I've been there, done that too. n/t

[1776Forever]

17. Oooo That is gorgeous! I saved it. Is it supposed to be a real one?

Do you have a link?

Thanks for posting!:loveya:

[librechik]

5. when I use my cutoff saw w a diamond blade, I have to be careful

If the material I'm cutting is a little flexible, it will occasionally shift and squeeze the blade so hard that the blade stops, and then it's stuck. You can try applying some pressure to open up the cut and allow the saw to move again. Or you can abandon the blade (and saw in this case) and try for another cut in a slightly different spot below the stuck blade perhaps. It's obvious BP has a very tenuous grip on what to do and how, but when you start out with absolutely no emergency plan for various ways your engineering project can go wrong (BP is so perfect nothing ever goes wrong, right?) you are basically fucked. And so are we. At the very least, BP's behavior is unprofessional, at the worst, criminal neglect.

[yella_dawg]

7. It takes a great deal of force to flex steel tubes this heavy.

That's why they cut away the riser above the kink. Should have relieved any flexing force on the remaining structure.

My concern is that significant flexing force is still present and it shouldn't be.

[librechik]

14. sure looks that way--

[FarCenter]

16. Small tube inside the big tube

The small tube will move independently of the big tube.

Somewhere in the BOP, the small, very hard and strong, drill pipe is held centered in the riser. There are annular BOPs at the top of the stack that would do this if I recall correctly.

Where the riser is folded over, the small tube is also folded and captured somewhere along the fold of the riser, but not necessarily in the center of the fold.

Where they are cutting, the small tube is probably bowed out towards the wall away from the direction of the riser fold. As it is cut, it would tend to move to relieve the stress that it is under, probably towards the riser wall and upwards.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

6. Massive pressure bending the blade.

:think:

[Vinnie From Indy]

12. It's not a blade, it is a wire

I have seen smaller wire saws kink up when the rpm's are not high enough. The flipside is too much which is also a problem. I imagine they used a diamond wire precisely because of the pressures involved. It has a much lower profile for the pressure to effect.

[lumberjack_jeff]

8. I've wondered the same thing. n/t

[lpbk2713]

9. Why not?

The whole operation has been a cluster fuck right from the start.

[HopeHoops]

11. It was made in China?

:shrug:

[Rex]

13. No BP...oh I am sorry B O P has no clue what they are doing

they never drilled this deep or had any kind of backup plan for what to do if an accident occurred at those depths or how to fix it! I believe they are trying the best they can to stop the flow, but it seems like their efforts so far have been in vain. Hopefully this new attempt will work and they can seal the hole soon.

[elocs]

15. No, BP is deliberately trying to fail in all it tries so that the oil keeps spewing.

Since the Administration is running the show and okaying what BP does, then they must be responsible as well, right? Also, since the Administration is undoubtedly getting advice from many experts from around the world, and BP is still doing what the Administration allows them to do, then they all must be incompetent, right?

Of course, believing the above is simply stupid, but plenty appear to believe it or some variation of it.

[The Wielding Truth]

18. Could they surround the spewing oil by a sheet of flattened steel

and create a funnel that would open at the top and be connected there to other funnels until the pressure is eased enough to narrow the funnels and pipe the top?