Subsea valves

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Subsea Valves

Subsea valves are in basic terms similar to land based control valves, which are used to control the flow of material through a pipeline or other apparatus, but with the added addition of typically being reinforced to function and withstand their different submarine operational environment.

Subsea valves, as the name suggests, are used in sub-marine environments, which can range from depths from shallow water (usually down to a depth of 75 meters) to deep water (a depth down to 3500 meters). Various industries use subsea valves with the oil, sea and gas sectors accounting for the majority. In most cases where there is a need to move material either from or to the seabed area or below.

Hazards To Subsea Valves

External environmental factors to be considered for subsea valves, over regular land based valves include, waterproofing, increase in ambient pressure measured in decibars (dbar) and construction materials that are able to withstand long-term corrosion effects from high salt content seawater.

Internal factors to consider for subsea valves are the related to the type of flow material (what passes through the valve apparatus). Typically in subsea environments, the flows will either be liquid or gas based but due to location of the operation, the flow can contain a significant amount of sand and debris. This can present internal structural challenges.

One of the most challenging aspects for subsea valve deployment is cavitation. This is a process when liquid, being pumped through various pieces of machinery including the subsea valve, contains bubbles (or cavities). When the bubbles move through the system into areas of higher pressure they will collapse or through areas with lower pressure, they expand. This can have several negative effects including:

  • An increase in noise and more importantly vibration, which can cause damage to a number of machinery components including the subsea valve and in extreme cases cause total pump failure.
  • The pump can undergo a reduction in capacity.
  • Pressure can not be maintained, potentially causing fracturing within the pump.
  • Overall pump efficiency drops.

Due to the location of the subsea valve not being easily accessible, it is of paramount importance that it can function without hindrance, as replacement can be extremely costly.

Subsea Valve Testing

To overcome the problems associated with sub-marine environments, subsea valves are required to pass a number of stringent tests, these include but are limited to:

Gas testing according to API 6D / API 6A PSL 3G Performance verification test according to API 6A PR 2 Hyperbaric testing Bending calculation and test Seismic test


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