Estimated DCS Risks in Pressurized Submarine Rescue

Abstract

The Naval Submarine Medical Research Laboratory (NSMRL) Report "Pressurized submarine rescue: a manual for undersea medical officers" issued in 1992 contained a number of decompression procedures with a conservatism appropriate to routine U.S. Navy diving operations. Current planning emphasizes the need for procedures that, although sub-optimal from some viewpoints, allow maximum efficiency in protecting survivors from life-threatening decompression sickness (DCS). Available probabilistic decompression models were applied to six relevant rescue scenarios to estimate DCS risk incurred when making operational tradeoff decisions. Estimates show that oxygen breathing for a few hours during the decompression, and near-immediate post-surfacing use of U,S. Navy Treatment Tables are both quite effective. Much less efficacy is predicted for oxygen breathing after multi-hour surface intervals.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Apr 01, 1999
Accession Number
ADA452985

Entities

People

  • C. B. Toner
  • D. J. Tample
  • E. C. Parker
  • P. K. Weathersby
  • S. S. Survanshi

Organizations

  • Naval Medical Research Center

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Biomedical Research
  • Buildings And Structures
  • Conservatism
  • Decompression
  • Decompression Sickness
  • Diving
  • Diving Operations
  • Efficiency
  • Intervals
  • Navy
  • Research Facilities
  • Respiration
  • Submarines

Readers

  • Adaptive Control and Estimation with Uncertainty in Dynamic Systems.
  • Aviation Safety Risk Assessment.
  • Underwater engineering and Marine Technology.