Live Aboard and Risk of DCS

[Saturation]

It would be a boring world if people agreed and there was no discussion or debate

l happily 2nd that! Looking forward to your input.

 

[Dr Deco]

Dear Readers:

1. Nuclei

Many of these “unusual” profiles that I encounter are probably based on a specific set of circumstances. It must be remember that the US Navy diving tables are designed for surface supplied divers w, that is, the capability for hours of bottom time even at 200fsw. In addition, the tables were designed for decompression in a bell of deck decompression chamber.

Technical divers decompress in the water and are buoyant. We know fro decades of research (starting during WW II) that individuals who decompress when not walking are considerably more resistant to DCS. This was originally attributed to carbon dioxide formation, but I believe it is the result of the reduction in stress-assisted nucleation. This is couple with a limited lifetime for microbubbles of only a few hours. In-water decompression confers an advantage for the technical diver.

2. Tables

When considering the “truth” of a decompression algorithm, it must be remembered that there are several constants that can be changed to force the decompression schedule to conform to physical reality. The constants may not really represent values of these constants that one would imagine to be the correct ones. That is, the values are “forced” such that the schedules produced are correct.

I have yet to see a model predict in advance a really novel and spectacular decompression profile before it was performed by some diver.

Dr Deco (on vacation this weekend)

 

[Saturation]

Dear Readers:

1. Nuclei

Many of these “unusual” profiles that I encounter are probably based on a specific set of circumstances. It must be remember that the US Navy diving tables are designed for surface supplied divers w, that is, the capability for hours of bottom time even at 200fsw. In addition, the tables were designed for decompression in a bell of deck decompression chamber.

Technical divers decompress in the water and are buoyant. We know fro decades of research (starting during WW II) that individuals who decompress when not walking are considerably more resistant to DCS. This was originally attributed to carbon dioxide formation, but I believe it is the result of the reduction in stress-assisted nucleation. This is couple with a limited lifetime for microbubbles of only a few hours. In-water decompression confers an advantage for the technical diver.

2. Tables

When considering the “truth” of a decompression algorithm, it must be remembered that there are several constants that can be changed to force the decompression schedule to conform to physical reality. The constants may not really represent values of these constants that one would imagine to be the correct ones. That is, the values are “forced” such that the schedules produced are correct.

I have yet to see a model predict in advance a really novel and spectacular decompression profile before it was performed by some diver.

Dr Deco (on vacation this weekend)

I agree fully with Dr. Deco, however on the last statement Dr. D, are you aware of the Mark Ellyatt's 1000' dive on open circuit using a schedule close to a bubble model schedule?