Flooded Member Detection

Flooded Member Detection (FMD), which can also be referred to as Flooded Member Inspection (FMI) is used to detect the presence of water in subsea structural members that would in turn be an indicator of a through wall defect in the member.

Weld failures or cracks can occur in tubular subsea members; and this is especially the case after extreme weather events or after any kind of impact. This ingress of water or “flood” will often remain completely undetected without inspection.

The gamma radiation FMI technique is often deployed when an entire subsea platform is requiring inspection. And while large scopes of work are of course possible using ultrasonic FMD, for interim or one off inspections, a UT (Ultrasonic) FMD inspection can be an excellent alternative to gama.

Extremely economical, safe and with little specialist expertise required, a UT FMD system can be deployed quickly and effectively by an on-platform dive team or ROV pilot and their supporting team of technicians.

As an added advantage, the Cygnus FMD system is designed so that the same unit can be shared between divers and ROVs – a further design innovation that delivers yet further savings.