Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] Isn't 'Mini book review.' anymore--pressure test

[William Alford <walford@dbtech.net>]

At 10:24 PM 4/10/2002 -0700, you wrote:
>I'm less concerned with generating the pressure on a vessel filled with
>water, actually, and more concerned with sealing a big tank with a door in it.

on the topic, Hyperbaric therapy chambers are often tested by filling with
water and then pressurizing with air, however, the above concern of sealing
a big tank with *big* door is paramount. Consider that a 30" door of a HBOT
chamber pressurized to only 2 atmospheres has a cumulative pressure (add up
all those PSI's on the entire area) on the door of around 5 tons! which is
equivalent of a dive to only 33 feet of seawater. A testing tank failure at
the pressures for modest psub depth and the required diameter of a door (or
flange mechanism) for sub admittance could be catastrophic. There is a
report in "Hyperbaric Facility Safety"- WT Wortman, of a 30" door failure
blowing off the HBOT chamber and through the wall of the building and
killing someone in the next room. Of course it was filled with O2, not water. 

The construction challenges of an enormous test chamber might rival that of
the psub itself.

William Alford
walford@dbtech.net

Tout comprendre c'est tout pardonner