Decompression calculations

in the OSTC
How does the OSTC dive computer calcu-
lates the no-stop limit and deco stops?
What are gradient factors (GF) and how
do they affect my deco?
 Copyright: heinrichs weikamp GmbH 2020
Text and Graphics: Ralph Lembcke and Matthias Heinrichs
Pictures: Heinrich Mattensen
Title: Jerzy Kowalczuk, www.underwaterpixel.com
Reproduction and duplication only with written permission from heinrichs weikamp

www.heinrichsweikamp.com

2
Basics of decompression

What happens during diving?

Let‘s start with a simple model (figure 1):
In a large vessel there is a second small
vessel with a small opening at the bot-
tom. Water flows from the large ves-
sel into the small vessel trough the
hole in the bottom, because of the big-
ger pressure in the large vessel. The big-
Figure 1
ger the pressure difference, the more wa-
ter is forced through the opening per time
unit. The filling level in the small vessel
will look as shown in figure 2 over time.

The more the filling level in the small

vessel is aligned with the filling lev-
el in the large vessel, the lower the pres-
sure difference is and the less water flows
over time until the level is finally equal.
If the small vessel is lifted, the pressure dif-
ference occurs again, but this time in the
opposite direction, since the water column
in the small vessel is now higher than the
water level in the surrounding large ves-
sel. As a result, the water flows from the
small vessel back into the large vessel, at
the beginning, when the pressure differ-
ence is still large, the water flows quick-
ly and then, with increasing adjustment,
Figure 2
slower and slower. So just as in the previous
case, only the other way round (figure 3).

What does that have to do with diving?

The big vessel is the body of water in which
we dive. The small vessel is our body.
The gas we breathe from our regulator
has the same pressure as the surround-
ing water. Our body consists to a large ex-
tent of liquid, like the small vessel in the
model above. Just as water flows in and
out through the opening in the small ves-
sel, the gas that we breathe during diving Figure 3

3
 flows into our lungs, passes into the blood-
stream and is distributed in the tissues of
our whole body.
As long as the pressure of the water sur-
rounding us and thus the pressure of the
gas in our lungs is greater than the pres-
sure in the tissues of our body, the gas that
is dissolved in our blood enriches in our
body tissues. The pressure in our body tis-
sues rises, initially quickly, then increasing- Figure 4
ly slower, until at some point the equilibri-
um is reached. formulas to determine how much pressure
builds up in the body tissues depending on
If we now ascend, the pressure of the sur- diving depth and bottom time and these at-
rounding water decreases. At the moment tempt to calculate when one can just re-
that pressure becomes smaller than the turn to the water surface without the pres-
pressure in our body tissues, the direction sure difference becoming too great. This is
of transport of the dissolved gases reverses. called „no decompression time“.
They are now transported from the blood-
stream back into the lungs, returning to If you stay at depth longer than this no-stop
their gaseous state and we breathe them time, you can use the models to calculate
out. the depth at which you have to stop your
Unfortunately, our body is not infinite- ascent to prevent the pressure difference
ly pressure-resistant: If the pressure in the becoming too big. During this stop, also
tissues of our body is too high compared known as „decompression stop“, the gas
to the external water pressure that „holds“ dissolved in the tissues is continuously re-
our body together, the gas stored in our moved from our body via the bloodstream,
body tissues will no longer stay in solution the lungs and our exhalation. After some
and begins to form gas bubbles on the spot. time, enough gas has been removed and
This can then lead to a decompression acci- the pressure in the tissues has decreased
dent (figure 4). enough that the ascent can continue - to
the water surface or to a next decompres-
Decompression accident sion stop at a shallower depth.
In order to avoid such a decompression ac-
cident, we must make sure that the pres-
sure difference between the pressure in our
body tissues and the pressure of the sur-
rounding water will not become too great.
The extent of this pressure difference has
been studied for over 100 years and various
models have been developed over the years.

These models are ultimately mathematical

4
5
 The Bühlmann ZH-L16 decompression model

The OSTC dive computer uses the model set elapsed, the pressure difference is reduced
up by the Swiss professor Albert A. Bühl- to half. After two half-lives, the difference
mann, more precisely his model „ZH-L16“. has halved again, to a quarter, and so on.
This is a widely used model. The ZH stands This applies in the same way when gas en-
for Zürich, its place of action, and the 16 ters the tissues as when it leaves them (fig-
for 16 tissues, which are calculated in this ure 6).
model.

16 Tissues
In contrast to our simple model with the
one vessel that should represent our body
(see figure 1-3), Bühlmann found out that
our body is in reality more complicated: In- ambient pressure
stead of the one „opening“ (The width of
which is the amount of gas that flows into
pressure

our body depending on the pressure differ-

ence) Bühlmann‘s model uses up to 16 ves-
sels to reproduce what happens in our body.
Each of these 16 vessels, called „tissue“ in
the model, has a differently sized„opening“,
so that at the same pressure difference dif-
ferent amounts of gas enter or exit the in-
1st 2nd ...
dividual tissues. The tissue number 1 is the Time
fastest to equalize with ambient pressure, half-lives

the tissue number 16 the slowest (figure 5). Figure 6

Half-lives
In the model, these different lengths of Fast and slow tissues
times needed to equalize pressure are In the Bühlmann ZH-L16 model, the fastest
called „half-lives“. After one half-life has tissue has a half-life of 4 minutes, the slow-
est of 635 minutes, i.e. over 10 hours. Since
we usually do not dive for several hours,
the tissues with the long half-lives, the so-
called „slow“ tissues, will also absorb a lit-
tle gas, but by far not as much as half of the
balance to equalize with the water pressure
at the bottom depth. On the other hand,
the fastest tissue with a half-life of 4 min-
utes and the second fastest tissue with 8
minutes, often achieve pressure equalisa-
Figure 5 tion before we begin to ascend. Therefore,

6
 the pressure in the tissues over the dura-
tion of the dive will be approximately as
shown in Figure 7.

Tissue 1
pressure

.... Figure 8

No deco time and deco stop

How is the no decompression time or the
Tissue 16
depth of a decompression stop deter-
mined? With the help of many experiments
and field studies, Bühlmann determined
Time the maximum permissible overpressure for
each of the 16 model tissues. As the phy-
Figure 7
sician Robert D. Workman had already dis-
covered, this maximum permissible over-
pressure is not constant, but depends on
Tissue graphics in the OSTC the ambient pressure: The deeper we dive
Dive computers measure the water pres- (the higher the pressure of the surround-
sure and continuously calculate the pres- ing water), the more pressure the tissues
sures in the tissues based on the half-lives. withstand beyond the pressure of the sur-
The OSTC does this every other second and rounding water before the gases dissolved
you can follow the result on its screen (fig- in them begin to bubble out in the form of
ure 8). gas bubbles.
The bars are arranged from top to bottom
from the fast tissues to the slow tissues. This can be illustrated graphically in a di-
The longer the bar, the higher the pres- agram (figure 9). The black line stands for
sure in each tissue. The color of the bars equal pressures of tissue and environment.
indicates whether a tissue is saturating or Below this line, the pressure in the tissue is
- when ascending - is already reducing pres- less than the ambient pressure, so the tis-
sure again: Orange bars indicate that the sue will fill and its pressure will increase.
pressure in the tissue is increasing, tur- Above the black line, the pressure in the tis-
quoise bars indicate that the pressure is sue is greater than the surrounding water
falling. pressure, the tissue is said to be „supersat-
urated“. In this state, the tissue will release
gas and its pressure will decrease over time
according to the half-life.

7
 Now in the Bühlmann model ZH-L16 there
M-line is not only one but 16 tissues. Each of these
100%
16 tissues has its own M (maximum value)-
line. According to the model, the „fast“ tis-
sues with the shortest half-lives tolerate
tissue pressure

0% significantly more overpressure than the

„slow“ tissues with the longer half-lives.
100%
Therefore, the M-lines of the fast tissues lie
above the M-lines of the slow tissues (fig-
0%
ure 10).

100%
fastest tissue 1
0%

ambient pressure (Depth)

Figure 9
tissue pressure

M-line
The red line indicates the maximum pres-
sure the tissue may have. The blue scales slowest tissue 16
measure the amount of overpressure in the
tissue. As can be seen, the scales are longer
in the direction of greater water depths, the
tissue tolerates more overpressure at great-
er water depths than at shallower depths. ambient pressure (Depth)
In order to avoid a decompression accident, Figure 10
the tissue pressure should always be below
or at most on the red line, the „maximum
value line“ or short „M-line“. Where it lies in Because of the different half-lives during
a concrete case can be indicated by the blue the dive, the individual tissues build up
scales both as a pressure value (physically pressure at different speeds and because
in the unit bar), and as a percentage value each tissue has different, depth-dependent
between the black line as 0% and the red maximum values, each tissue has its own
line as 100%. If it lies beyond the red line, saturation value at any time.
the result is a value greater than 100%. If it
lies below the black line, it is strictly speak-
ing not defined, but is set to 0% for simplici-
ty‘s sake. This percentage measures the (rel-
ative) oversaturation of the tissue, it is the
„saturation number“.

8
Leading tissue
Since all tissues should remain below their
respective M-lines, the tissue that has the
highest saturation number is the tissue
that determines our no-stop limit or the
depth of the decompression stop. It is called
the „leading tissue“. When the OSTC calcu-
lates the pressures in the 16 tissues, it also
determines the respective saturation num-
bers and displays the largest saturation
number found (saturation, figure 11).
Figure 12

Ceiling
Another value that the OSTC continuous-
ly calculates is the „Ceiling“. Ceiling is the
depth at which the first tissue will reach
100% saturation. As long as the Ceiling is
displayed as 0, you can ascend directly to
the water surface, you are within the no
deco limit.
If the Ceiling depth is greater than zero, this
is the depth at which you must stop at the
Figure 11 very latest to give the tissues time to re-
lease pressure, this allows the Ceiling depth
to decrease and you can emerge a bit fur-
Roll change ther. This will happen continuously until
Which tissue is the leading tissue chang- the ceiling finally becomes zero and you ar-
es in the course of the dive. At first it will rive at the surface.
be one of the fast tissues as they build up
pressure quickly. However, as they release With this knowledge you have nothing to
pressure just as quickly and also tolerate a do but to dive in such a way that the indi-
lot of overpressure, the ever slower tissues cated saturation value is not greater than
will gradually assume the role of the lead- 100% or that you never come shallower
ing tissue. Although they have built up only than the indicated ceiling depth and nev-
little pressure, they will not be able to re- er ascend faster than 10 meters per minute
lease it again quickly and can also only tol- (this is anchored in the model), then you
erate less overpressure. The OSTC also indi- dive within the limits of the Bühlmann de-
cates which tissue is currently the leading compression model, i.e. within the range
tissue with the small number in the tissue where according to the model the probabil-
chart (figure 12). ity of suffering a decompression accident is
very small.

9
 Personal influence it would be the case with the pure model.
Why only very small? Well, the Bühlmann This means that all other calculated values
model ZH-L16 is „only“ a calculation mod- determined from the tissue pressures are
el, which has been tested on a broad basis „ahead of time“, i.e. the tissue pressures are
and for many years, but in the end it does artificially increased and thus the satura-
not know anything about your personal tion values are overestimated and the no-
physical constitution, the way you dive and stop time shortened.
many other factors. It is calibrated to the With a saturation factor that is greater
„average“ diver, so to speak. So even the M- than 100%, you can, for example, take into
lines described above cannot be sharp sep- account strenuous dives during which in-
arators between the areas of too high tis- creased physical activity leads to increased
sue pressures and harmless overpressures. blood flow and thus more gas transport
Rather, it is the positions of transition zones into the body.
in the direction of increasing risk of suffer-
ing a decompression accident. The counterpart of the saturation factor is
the desaturation factor. This also has an ef-
By diving in such a way that you remain be- fect on the calculation of the half-lives of
low the M-lines, i.e. below a saturation val- the tissues, but in contrast to the saturation
ue of 100% or always somewhat lower than factor it always has an effect when a tissue
the ceiling depth calculated according to desaturates, i.e. reduces pressure. With the
the model, you can further reduce the risk desaturation factor, you can artificially slow
of a decompression accident - at least as down the calculated pressure reduction,
far as the risk factors are within the sphere which in turn causes the calculation results
of influence of the model. Dive comput- to lag behind during the emergence phase
ers support you by allowing you to include and thus makes them more conservative.
safety factors in the displayed no-stop time For example at a setting value of 90%, the
and in the depths and durations of the de- calculated tissue pressures will drop 10%
compression stops. The OSTC dive compu- more slowly than according to the pure
ter offers the possibility to set two types of model. This factor can be used to take into
safety factors, which you can activate indi- account conditions that can slow down gas
vidually or together: transport from the tissues, such as cold or
Saturation factors and gradient factors (GF). an unfavourable BMI (body mass index).

Saturation Factors
With the saturation factors, two percentag-
es, you influence the half-lives of the mod-
el. The pairing 100%/100% stands for the
original Bühlmann model ZH-L16. If a sat-
uration factor greater than 100% is set, the
tissues will build up pressure more quickly
in the model calculation. At a setting value
of 110%, for example, the calculated tissue
pressures will increase by 10% faster than

10
Gradient factors (GF)

Gradient factors according to Erik C. Baker GF high

are a further means of affecting the calcu- Limits the maximum allowable tissue satu-
lations of a dive computer, with the aim of ration on reaching the surface
achieving more conservative values for the
no decompression time, the ceiling depth GF low
and all deco stops. Also here the value were Limits the maximum allowable tissue satu-
100%/100% for the original Bühlmann ration on reaching the first deco stop
model ZH-L16. The two percentages are „GF
low“ and „GF high“, the GF low is specified
first, then the GF high (for example: 50/85). Shifting the M-line
Internally, the gradient factor acts on the
GF high M-lines of all tissues. It reduces the gradi-
With a GF high value smaller than 100% we ent of the M-line as well as shifts the en-
reduce the maximum permissible overpres- tire M-line in the direction of the pressure
sure in the tissues that the OSTC uses for line. This reduces both the excess allowable
calculation of the ceiling depth and the no- overpressure per excess depth and the total
stop limit. allowable overpressure.
Put simply: If you set a GF high of 80%, then The original M-lines of the Bühlmann mod-
the ceiling depth shows that depth at which el corresponds to a gradient factor of 100%.
the leading tissue has a saturation of these The pressure equivalence line corresponds
same 80% of the Bühlman-maximum val- to a GF of 0%, which would not allow any
ue. In the same way the no-stop limit is cal- permissible supersaturation and thus no
culated so that when reaching the surface pressure reduction in the tissues. Since
exactly at the end of the no-stop limit no with a GF of 0% the emergence would be
tissue will have more saturation than 80%. practically forbidden, a GF of 0% cannot be
Without gradient factor it would be 100%. set in practice. In the value range from 1%
to 99%, the M-line, according to which the
GF low OSTC calculates, is placed proportionally to
If the no decompression time is exceeded, the percentage value between the original
then the GF low comes into play: The depth M line and the pressure line (figure 13).
of the first decompression stops is calculat- The further you lower the M-Line, the more
ed this way, that at a given stop depth there conservative you make the load on the lead-
is no tissue with a saturation that will ing tissue. While you are keeping the lead-
be greater than the set GF low percentage. ing tissue well below its maximum pos-
In addition, the depth of the displayed deco sible saturation, the slower tissues have
stop is rounded to the next multiple of 3 often not yet reached the pressure equi-
metres in the direction of greater depth - in librium, but are actually still saturating.
keeping with tradition. So while you are protecting the faster tis-
sues, the slower tissues, which also toler-
ate less overpressure, continue to saturate.
This leads inevitably to the fact that the lat-

11
 GF factor GF low GF high
er stops in lower depths, where the slow-
Surface
er tissues only begin to saturate, must be-
come longer. 4th stop

3rd stop

100% 2nd stop

original M-line 80%
1st stop

with GF lowered M-line

tissue pressure

0%

100%

depth
80%

0%
Figure 14
100%
80%
0% Why and when should you let a dive com-
puter calculate a slightly different gradient
ambient pressure (Depth) factor on each deco stop?
In the description of the M-lines it was said
Figure 13
that the tissues tolerate a higher overpres-
sure at a higher ambient pressure. The pres-
If the GF low determines the depth of the sure in the tissues is caused by the gas dis-
first deco stop and the GF high the reaching solved in them. As long as you dive with air
of the surface, what happens on the stops or nitrox, this gas is nitrogen. Although air
in between? There are two possibilities: and especially nitrox contain not only nitro-
gen but also oxygen, which of course is also
The values of GF low and GF high are the transported into your body tissues, it does
same: Then the duration of the stops is cal- not accumulate there because it is con-
culated in such a way that at the end of stantly consumed by your body‘s metab-
each stop the ascent to the next stop depth olism on the spot. Thus the classical Bühl-
will not just bring any tissue above the set mann model calculates the saturations and
GF percentage of saturation. the maximum permissible tissue pressures
with the half-lives and M-lines of nitrogen.
The values of GF low and GF high are dif-
ferent: In this case, different maximum sat- Calculation with Trimix
uration values are applied for each stop Now more and more divers are not only us-
depth, linearly averaged between GF low/ ing the gases air and nitrox, but also „Trim-
GF high and the depth of the stops. ix“, which is a mixture of oxygen, nitrogen
and helium. Like nitrogen, helium is not
This must always apply: consumed by the human body, so it accu-
GF low ≤ GF high (figure 14). mulates in the tissues in addition to nitro-
gen and contributes to the increase in pres-

12
sure in these tissues.
M-line with GF high
Helium is a very light gas, whose molecules
are much smaller than those of nitrogen,
and the ratio between the amount of gas
resulting M-line

tissue pressure
dissolved in the tissue and the resulting in-
crease in pressure is different from that of
nitrogen. Therefore, the half-lives and M-
lines of nitrogen do not apply to helium. In
M-line with GF low
fact, for helium there is a second set of half-
lives and a second set of M-lines with which
the dive computer calculates the behavior
of helium in the tissues and combines the
results with those of nitrogen.
Unlike the half-lives and M-lines for nitro- 0m 4th 3rd 2nd 1st stop Depth
gen, those for helium have not been so ex- Figure 15
tensively tested - in fact, they are more
mathematically derived from those for ni-
trogen by proportioning the physical prop-
erties.

Actual technical divers now show that the

assumption that the tissues could tolerate
a higher supersaturation at a higher ambi-
ent pressure is not as true for helium as it is
for nitrogen, so the M-lines for helium have
become too steep in the mathematical der-
ivation. And exactly this is compensated
in technical dives with Trimix as breathing
gas, in which the permissible overpressure
is reduced on the first stop with the GF low
more strongly and is then increased stop by
stop slowly in the direction of the GF high
(figure 15).

13
 A request at the end
However, a dive computer is only a techni-
OSTC dive computers don‘t have an „error cal device following its programmed rules.
mode“, they don‘t switch off even in case As such, it can and must only be a tool that
of gross violations of the Bühlmann mod- helps you making decisions. Never blind-
el and they don‘t have any secret mod- ly trust the numbers and clues it may dis-
el extensions that affect the calculations play. You need to understand what happens
in an unexplained way. If the limits of the during your dive so that you can safely com-
Bühlmann model are exceeded, this will plete your dive even in the event of a mal-
be indicated, but the OSTC will continue to function or failure that can never be com-
calculate the model only in the manner de- pletely ruled out.
scribed here in order to provide you with
further data in a comprehensible manner.

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