Ram:

One of three types–blind, pipe, or shear–may be installed in several preventers mounted in a stack on top of the wellbore.

Blind rams, when closed, form a seal on a hole that has no drill pipe in it; pipe rams, when closed, seal around the pipe; shear rams cut through drill pipe and then form a seal.

Terms Related to Ram

• Change rams

  To take rams out of a blowout preventer and replace them with rams of a different size or type. When the size of a drill ...

• Shear ram

  The component in a blowout preventer that cuts, or shears, through drill pipe and forms a seal against well pressure. Shear rams are used in ...

• Ram blowout preventer

  A blowout preventer that uses rams to seal off pressure on a hole that is with or without pipe. Also called a ram preventer.

• Blind ram

  An integral part of a blowout preventer, which serves as the closing element on an open hole. Its ends do not fit around the drill ...

• Pipe ram preventer

  A blowout preventer that uses pipe rams as the closing elements. See pipe ram.

• Pipe ram

  A sealing component for a blowout preventer that closes the annular space between the pipe and the blowout preventer or wellhead.

• Shear ram preventer

  A blowout preventer that uses shear rams as closing elements.