Virtually prepared
Preparing people in a simulated virtual world for their work in the real world has many advantages. Malcolm Brown learns more about BP's advances in creating 3D virtual environments, which are taking root across the company's businesses
That sort of incident isn't likely to happen on John Hughes' watch. Several years ago, says Hughes, BP's subsea manager for installation and commissioning on the Atlantis oil field in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, BP asked a software company to create a 3D model of part of the field's subsea architecture. It was to be used in a simulator for remotely operated vehicle (ROV) activities, enabling ROV operators to experience 'flying' these unmanned robots under the sea, just as airline pilots use flight simulators to practise landings and in-flight manoeuvres.
The Atlantis engineers were astonished by the vividness of the model. It was so realistic that it soon became apparent that it had potential uses far beyond ROV simulations. It could be used, for example, for operations such as hazard identification.
'We'd have a simulated camera fly through the subsea equipment,' says Hughes, 'just to show what the seabed would look like if we were doing certain tasks, such as moving a BOP or other equipment. The 3D visualisation was a way for a group of people, sitting together, to review a task and help identify hazards associated with that work.'
BP's information technology experts believe 3DVE could transform many of the company's operations. BP's chief technology office (CTO), part of the company's information technology and services organisation, has chosen 3DVE as its designated 'game changer' for 2009 - an emerging technology that if adopted across the group could make a substantial difference to performance. The rule of thumb is that a game changer should be capable of contributing at least an additional $50 million a year to BP's bottom line.
Model diversity
3D models aren't new. They have been part of computer aided design (CAD) for years. But CAD is mainly run on dedicated machines, and is used almost exclusively by specialists. 3DVE, by contrast, is a mass medium. It has grown from the convergence of several different things - the availability of high-speed broadband, improvements in high-end computer graphics, and advances in computer gaming software - which, taken together, mean that virtual worlds can be conjured up on any computer, 24 hours a day. It is a way of bringing 3D virtual worlds to everyone, whether on a high-spec desktop or a low-end laptop computer.BP businesses have developed innovative 3DVE modules for a variety of very different applications - from training convenience store staff at BP's service station retail outlets in the USA, to refinery maintenance inspection in Australia.
The model used for the US convenience stores is based on a real store in suburban Los Angeles, says Brian Ralphs, a technology director in CTO who is leading the push to spread 3DVE throughout BP.
'The idea is that trainees are dropped into a 3D model of a convenience store via their computer, and can then conduct hands-on training activities as if they were in the real world.'
It works well. In fact it works better than taking people to real stores and training them by traditional methods like lectures, demonstrations and information packs. Studies have shown that knowledge retention by virtual-world trainees is 80 per cent better than that of groups who undertake traditional training in real convenience stores, says Ralphs. And it is quicker, typically shaving off several hours from the total training time.
The mobile semisubmersible drilling rig working in the field, Development Driller II (DDII), is a fifth-generation rig designed to work in complex deepwater developments, and is capable of much more than the traditional rig activities of drilling and completing wells. It is designed so that it can also install and remove major items of subsea equipment.
DDII already has a satellite-linked navigation system, which enables crew on the bridge to see exactly where they are, in horizontal terms, as they move the rig. Now, says Hughes, they are about to launch a system that will enable the crew to see where objects are located in the water column, in the vertical plane. The crew will have real-time 3D visualisation of what is happening near, or on, the seabed - some 2000m below.
In future, one screen on the bridge will show the rig's movement in the horizontal plane, while a second screen will show, in real time, a 3DVE visualisation of what is going on at the seabed - how the rig is moving equipment around or over the subsea architecture. Eventually, says Hughes, they may add a third screen which shows the actual view from a strategically placed ROV.
The Bulwer Island piping inspection model, which was up and running in late 2000, was built on the back of the 3D model that had been used to design a completely new 'clean fuels' extension at the refinery. Griffiths realised he could adapt it to build a 3D interactive model that could be loaded on laptop computers and used on site by inspectors.
The business case was obvious. The cost of developing the inspection software was only about five per cent of the estimated cost to prepare the paper-based inspection sheets traditionally used by inspectors.
'We developed the model instead of drafting those field sheets,' says Griffiths. 'The model development saved well over A$200,000. We now save similar amounts every time we do a project, big or small, on a refinery unit that has been modelled.'
They also save the considerable expense of maintaining and using the paper system. With the paper system, every design change requires the field sheet to be updated, and then the updated sheet is printed and physically filed in the library.
'With the new system no further update is necessary beyond what is required to design the modification, so the costs are in effect zero. And we no longer need to produce photocopied sheets for each inspection.'
The inspector locates the pipe he is to inspect, both in the field and on the screen, touches the point of inspection on the screen, and then on the real equipment uses a probe attached to the ultrasonic meter to take thickness readings which are automatically transferred to the laptop (see graphic above). Back in the office the results are downloaded into a corrosion control program used to manage piping and pressure vessel thickness data. A major outcome is that inspection surveys are conducted in less than half the time, and there are many other advantages, notably in enhanced safety. The system can also assist in inspecting steelwork and supports, in weld quality management and many other areas.
Floating operations
Griffiths and his colleagues at Bulwer used an existing 3D model - a virtual 3D model that imaged the new, clean fuels plant in fine detail - and adapted it to build an inspection tool. Something similar is happening offshore Angola, where BP's 3DVE specialists are providing 3D virtual environments derived from CAD drawings for a floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel, now under construction, which will be at the heart of the Angola PSVM development in 2000m of water in offshore Block 31.So far, says Blaine Tookey, technology consultant in the CTO, the team has developed a partial FPSO model which contains accurate 3D portrayals of the control room, accommodation block and the turret - the complex structure which moors the vessel and enables the FPSO to move around with the prevailing weather. The model was created to check out the control room design and help familiarise staff with the accommodation area of the vessel. But the Angola 3DVE project plans to go much further - 3DVE training scenarios for two 'low frequency/high risk activities' have been built, one demonstrating pigging for internal pipe cleaning, and the other for crew mustering and lifeboat launching.
'We brainstormed with the operational readiness team for Angola,' says Tookey, 'and identified operations like these as primary areas for 3DVE to help them. We are now exploring other critical procedures, for example hooking up the risers between seabed and the FPSO.'
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As with many of the other 3DVE projects being developed by BP, this allows people to apply and test their knowledge without affecting site integrity, and without endangering either themselves or the plant.
The list of 3DVE applications across BP's businesses is expanding quickly, both in terms of their numbers and in their variety.
'It's a very powerful way to work,' concludes Tookey. 'With the ingenuity that exists in BP, one can believe that in five years' time these tools will be an integral part of the entire business process.'
