Description
Operating in the UKCS (United Kingdom Continental Shelf) or Norwegian sectors often requires adherence to strict environmental and safety regulations. When deploying equipment into the North Sea it can present different challenges to deeper water. At depths of 300 meters, the North Sea environment is unforgiving, and the cost of retrieval far outweighs the cost of rigorous pre-deployment validation. Our Hyperbaric Pressure Tests can provide the critical assurance that your subsea sensors and housings are built to survive lower pressures where seals that tighten at higher pressure, may weep or leak at the lower depths.
Test Specifications: Continental Shelf Profile
While can we tailor every test to your specific hardware requirements, PRESSTEST-2H-30BAR provides a North Sea simulation including:
- Pressure Rating: 30 Bar (Equivalent to ~300m depth).
- Hold Duration: 2 Hours at peak pressure.
- Medium: Freshwater
- Adaptability: Pressure setpoints and ramp rates are fully adjustable based on your specific housing material and sensor sensitivity.
Why Perform Hyperbaric Testing?
Standard atmospheric testing cannot replicate the physical stresses of the deep ocean. We test to identify:
- Structural Integrity: Ensuring housings do not succumb to deformation or leak under extreme hydrostatic loads.
- Seal & O-Ring Performance: Verifying that gaskets and seals remain watertight at lower pressures that may not be enough to force them into their grooves.
- Material Porosity: Detecting microscopic flaws in castings or welds that may only leak under high-pressure differentials.
- Signal Accuracy: Can validating that sensor data remains despite the physical compression of the sensor body.
The Benefits of Pre-Deployment Testing
Investing in hyperbaric validation before the vessel leaves the dock offers significant strategic advantages:
- Risk Mitigation: Drastically reduces the risk of find a seal leaks after deployment.
- Cost Savings: Avoiding a single “dry run” or an unplanned ROV recovery mission can save hundreds of thousands in operational costs.
- Insurance & Compliance: Many offshore projects require verified test data to meet safety standards and insurance warranties.
- Peace of Mind: Provides stakeholders with empirical evidence that the hardware is fit for purpose.
Certification & Reporting
Transparency is the core of our testing process. Upon successful completion of the 2-hour hold, you will receive a Comprehensive Test Certificate including:
- Digital Pressure Logs: A time-stamped graph showing the pressurisation, hold, and bleed-down phases.
- Visual Inspection Report: Post-test analysis of seals, windows, and connectors.