Date of Award

6-9-2015

Document Type

Thesis

Publisher

Santa Clara: Santa Clara University, 2015.

First Advisor

Christopher Kitts

Second Advisor

Timothy Hight

Abstract

To assist scientists in their pursuit of important research of the subseafloor, the Legacy Borehole Project designed a unique structure that will be lowered to the ocean floor for data collection beneath the ocean floor. This derrick structure will provide support for a sensor package to access pre-existing boreholes, deep and narrow holes drilled into the Earth's crust beneath the sea floor. Our team has completed the second year effort of the three-year plan. In this paper we detail our work on the structure, which will be assembled on a ship's deck and lowered onto the borehole reentry cone with assistance from remotely operated vehicles (ROVs). When the sensor has completed its data sampling, the entire structure will be returned to the ship's deck. The design has been completed and approved and testing has been conducted, but it has not been possible to proceed with the manufacturing of the structure due to a loss of funding. A bolt pattern has been manufactured and tested, validating the bolt pattern choice. The full design and manufacturing details have been finalized and are ready for the third year team. It will be important for funding to be secure for this important work to be completed.

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