Deep diving

Our diving work is carried out by experienced divers in a wide variety of aquatic environments. In addition to being qualified divers able to work safely in low-visibility conditions, our dive teams are also multi-skilled technicians. At Hydrokarst, our dive teams can weld, cut, scour, fit and disassemble equipment underwater in low-visibility conditions and without ground leverage.

They carry out:

• – All types of civil engineering work: concreting, sealing, cutting, core drilling etc.
• – All types of mechanical work: welding, assembly, painting etc.

Our divers can work at any depth from 2 to 200 m underwater.

When the diver is submerged, their body is subjected to the pressure of the water above them. This pressure dissolves the inert gases in their body. At the end of the dive, the diver must ascend by progressive stops to evacuate the gas from their body and return atmospheric pressure. We call these decompression stops.

The stops are calculated according to the working depth, the length of time underwater and the gas mixture used. The longer the work takes, the longer the diver will have to remain at these decompression stops on their ascent.

Under certain conditions, the diver might have to spend more time in decompression than at work, making the overall task much longer and requiring the use of multiple technicians.

To improve comfort for divers and optimise the time spent on work at depths, we can propose saturation diving systems.

This is the only technique enabling work to be done at great depths over long period of time (from a few days to several weeks). Saturation diving requires divers to live in a hyperbaric environment on the surface, pressurised to the same level as the depth of their work, for the duration of the work project. Our highly qualified teams can eat, sleep and live in the pressurised habitat for a maximum of 31 days.

An on-site monitoring and measurement module ensures the safety of saturation teams at all times. A full team remains active on the surface 24/7 to monitor divers throughout their duty period underwater and while they are on daily rest periods in the hyperbaric chamber on the surface.

Decompression to surface pressure is only carried out on completion of their work and is subject to constant monitoring.

• ➔ 6 hours of work per 8-hour shift
• ➔ 3 shifts a day, or 18 hours of effective work
• ➔ Saturation period lasting up to 31 days
• ➔ Depths from 30 to 200 metres