Skills Showcased

Problem solving, innovative thinking

Description

To connect the floating turbine platform to the grid we required a watertight pulling head to be installed on the end of a sub sea cable, which would be towed across the seafloor to the platform. I was tasked with testing the seals of this pulling head to ensure salt water would not gain access to the pulling head, compromising the cable. 

During standard pressure tests, we found that we were losing pressure but were unable to determine where the leak was coming from using the soapy water method. Soapy water is sprayed on the equipment around seals. Bubbles will form near a leak.

Solution

I suspected that the drop in pressure was due to air being forced into the 1km long subsea cable. I built a low cost custom testing vessel out of scrap wood and a tarp that we could fill with water and submerge the pulling head fully on site, as we would not be able to take it to a testing facility. We were unable to find any air bubbles escaping during this test so we accepted it as a pass. The cable was installed without a problem.