Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!usc!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!dev8.mdcbbs.com!rivero
From: rivero@dev8.mdcbbs.com
Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle
Subject: OIL FIRES
Message-ID: <1991Mar28.143241.1@dev8.mdcbbs.com>
Date: 28 Mar 91 14:32:41 GMT
Organization: McDonnell Douglas M&E, Cypress CA
Lines: 22
Nntp-Posting-Host: dev8
Nntp-Posting-User: rivero

I don't know why this group is covering this subject, but

Okay, would be firefighters, let's see what we really face.

1. The normal pressure at the wellhead is well over 100 PSI,
with an extremely high flow rate (figure most wellhead pipes are
about 10 - 16 inches in diameter). That eliminates any slow
approach to controling the well fire.

2. The heat of burning petroleum is enough to not only melt the top
of the wellhead pipe itself, but to turn the sand in the
immediate vicinity to glass. That means that whatever event happens
must happen quickly to withstand the short exposure to heat,
and at the same time prevent the possability of reignition.

  So, how about we simply take a long lead cone, lift it
with a very tall crane, aim well, and drop it into the open
wellhead pipe. It's own mass and intertia "drill" it
down and seal the pipe instantly.  


				Mike