Something like angioplasty except an inflated Kevlar bag is left in the pipe.
The coefficient of friction between the bag and the oily pipe will be low so the bag will need to be long enough and/or the pressure high enough for enough traction to overcome the back pressure of the well.
To keep the bag from being flushed out before it grips the walls the bag needs to be inflated quickly, if necessary from compressed gas in containers inside of the bag.
They'll also need to avoid ripping the bag on the mangled pipe.
Everything is easy to calculate because they know everything, the coefficient of friction, the cooling of the gas due to adiabatic expansion, pipe diameter, flow rate, back pressure, etc.
Bret Cahill
Bret Cahill
"Balloon On A Stick" To Plug Oil Wells
Re: "Balloon On A Stick" To Plug Oil Wells
