Here's the latest drawing (scroll down for larger image):
I just sent it to BP with this accompanying email:
To whom it may concern on the BP Deepwater Horizon Joint Information Team,
Please find attached a revised drawing of my "Permeable Cone Stocking" oil containment concept. It has gotten an overwhelmingly positive response on the blogosphere, from engineers and laypeople alike. Thank you for considering it as an option to contain the spill. Best of luck to all your efforts.
Sincerely,
Eric Lewis
p.s. I will soon be posting a diary to the Daily Kos website, where I will discuss it in further detail. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns. Thanks.
The drawing is more or less to scale. To give you a mental idea of how deep a mile is, as well as the enormity of a supertanker, I made this image:
(Pictured in the above 'clone convoy' is the Knock Nevis, one of the world's longest at 1505 feet - almost a third of a mile!)
This new version is a lot more fleshed out than the original napkin sketch I made
(link here: http://www.dailykos.com/... )
My favorite detail is that the entire apparatus is now TENSION based. I figured we have these massive, rigid rectangles at our disposal (the tankers themselves) with enormous buoyancy force - let's use them. That inspired the upside-down guy wires which are mounted to the bows of the ships.
Please note that the new art doesn't show a 3rd and possibly a 4th tanker whose sterns are also hooked up to the TOP SUPPORT RING, and radiating out from the cone at either 120 degree angles (if 3 tankers) or 90 degree angles (if 4 tankers).
With the exception of the giant steel support rings, the whole damn thing is flexible! That means it can be assembled on shore and brought to the site and unfurled, as it were.
The steel suspension cables that connect the support rings mean that we're no longer relying on the strength of the permeable fabric to hold the whole thing together. That is a good thing.
Of course, we still need some investigation into the best material to use.
Another way to think of the 'Oil Corral' (slightly more catchy than 'Permeable Cone Stocking', not to mention a bit more cowboy-sounding, which I think the BP execs will appreciate) is as a giant upside-down floppy radio tower that is installed like a rope bridge or tent.
h/t to sumofchange.com for supporting this concept - they interviewed me yesterday, which helped it go semi-viral. Here's the video:
and their accompanying article: http://blog.sumofchange.com/
And it got almost entirely positive responses, even on random drilling-enthusiast message boards, not to mention right here on the Kos, where naysayers run aplenty. (no disrespect - I love this place)
pre-posting UPDATE: ACTION! BP just sent out this mass email regarding containment suggestions from the general public:
Suggestions
What is being done with submitted suggestions?
Throughout the ongoing response efforts thousands of people across the globe have offered their ideas for stopping the flow of oil into the Gulf, containing or recovering it, or cleaning it up.
BP has established a process to receive and review submitted suggestions, on how to stop the flow of oil or contain the spill emanating from the Mississippi Canyon 252 well. Proposals are reviewed for their technical feasibility and proof of application.
More than 4,800 ideas have been proposed to date. Given this quantity of technical proposals suggested by industry professionals and the public, it may take some time to technically review each one.
All proposals submitted through the process defined below will be reviewed.
Failure to follow the process below will likely delay proposed solutions from being reviewed.
If you want to offer suggestions by phone:
Please call 281.366.5511. After each call, the caller will be sent a simple form to provide details. When the caller completes and submits this form, the proposal is sent to BP technical personnel for review.
If you want to offer suggestions online:
A suggestion submission form is available at: http://www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.... Follow instructions on the form.
For most timely review, please use this process to submit your suggestion.
What happens with your proposal?
All proposals are reviewed for technical feasibility and application. Given the volume of proposals, this may take some time. A reply will be sent via email or fax to each caller informing them of the technical review outcome.
Feasible solutions will be forwarded for additional consideration. Callers whose ideas are considered feasible will be advised by email that we will contact them if and when their support is needed.
Unified Command thanks each submitter for their interest and willingness to share their ideas.
So please call that number or email them and tell them you support the 'Oil Corral' or 'Permeable Cone Stocking' concept, at least until a more permanent solution is devised. Thanks, everybody.
UPDATE 1: From the comments, Fishgrease weighs in with some excellent points:
Whoa!!!!!
AWESOME!!!!!
One tiny thing: have a floating structure to connect the tanker guy-wires to instead of the tankers. In case they have to boogie. Also, because of the danger of fire, have the tankers load remotely, a ways away, via buoyed hose/vac pump.
And that really is tiny stuff compared to the excellence of this idea!
**swoon** Thanks, Fg.
UPDATE 2: In the comments, JRandomPoster knocks it out of the park, IMO:
Here's a thought - if it could not only be sold as an emergency device, but as a preventative device, then there would be a market, and companies would scramble to build it. The first one to manufacture would probably have a market advantage.
Consider this: such a device could be pre-deployed at every rig out there. Thus, if there is another such incident, then the device would already be in place.
When in prevention mode, the top ring could supported by buoys deployed at distance from the rig, and could be supported several hundred feet under water. Thus, it would not be damaged if the rig burned. To activate the mechanism, the lines from the buoys would be used to pull it to the surface.
p.s. Please vote for me to be a Netroots Nation Scholar at this link:
http://www.democracyforamerica.com/...
Thanks! Just found out I did not make it in the first round of winners. :(
UPDATE 3: Fun publicity news...The Permeable Cone Stocking/Oil Corral is listed second in a Daily Beast article, titled 11 Extreme Oil Spill Solutions. Excerpt:
Garbage, fire, nuclear bomb explosion—these are possible solutions to stop the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico? The Daily Beast looks at 11 of the most out-there ideas proposed so far.
...
Oil Corral
BP’s engineers have suggested a giant underwater cone, but one amateur engineer has a different solution: to create a permeable cone placed over the leak. By creating the malleable cone, Rick Lewis hopes it reduces pressure in the deep sea environment. In this model, some of the oil will leak out from the structure.
When you click on 'Rick Lewis' (whoever that is), it takes you right here to this diary on the Kos.
full article here: http://www.thedailybeast.com/...