Offshore staff
ROSYTH, UK -- Oceaneering Umbilical Solutions is committing $2 million to a new test, qualification, and reliability (TQR) laboratory to evaluate the long-term behavior of deepwater umbilical cables.
It will be located at the company’s design and manufacturing plant north of Edinburgh.
At the 600-sq m (231-sq mi) facility, specialists will evaluate test data and perform tests to meet the demands of Oceaneering customers’ project specifications, and to understand and validate product performance limitations.
The team also will seek to identify critical failure modes, investigate the causes of failures, and analyze how to safeguard against these occurrences.
Typically, umbilicals are constructed for a 25-30 year lifespan, but in operation the stresses caused by ocean currents and tidal wave movement can cause general fatigue, allowing corrosion to start earlier than anticipated.
Joao Melo, Test & Reliability manager Oceaneering Umbilical Solutions said: “The in-house testing of an umbilical’s operational behavior at various stages of its life cycle is vital information for our clients and they’ll be reassured that our testing capability will exceed the set industry standards.”
The TQR laboratory, due to be fully operational by May, will undertake testing to ISO 135628-5. Previously Oceaneering subcontracted much of this activity.
03/11/2011
