In a Fiatech webinar this month, Dassault Systèmes’ Rolf Gibbels argued the case for 3D virtual reality (VR) to plan operations and train operators of oil and gas facilities. Gibbels noted the high daily rates for offshore drilling and the poor HSE performance of the industry. Offshore has a fatality rates that is twice onshore construction and eight times that of all other workers. In the face of an aging workforce, unskilled workers and complex projects, there is a pressing need to do more with less. Gibbels also noted the high cost ($2,000/day) for conventional training—and the limited availability of ‘static’ hardware-based training simulators. Traditional training systems may be ‘sophisticated’ but by the time they are installed and the facility is built, the two may well be out of synch.
Challenges for owner-operators also extend to validating maintenance activities—much knowledge is in engineers’ heads and is not always captured. There are also critical issues with equipment installation—with clashes and design clearance problems. For workers, posture analysis is critical—along with accessibility. Planners need to be able to simulate equipment kinematics alongside operators’ safe working capability.
Enter Dassault’s Delmia environment* and its 3DVIA ‘Virtools’ VR scenario builder. Delmia imports 3D plant models from CAD design tools or Laser scans of a real-world facility. Operational schedules are integrated in a 3D model work breakdown structure (WBS) linking resource requirements and time. Virtools brings people, tools and tasks into the structural model. Activities can be replayed and validated enabling virtual maintenance planning and complex project scenario development. Workflows include step by step validation, tweaking with new scenarios and best practices. A master schedule is then updated with the optimized project—and the results reused for training and OSHA compliance.
A video showed an avatar performing an engineering task in a simulator of the ITER nuclear fusion testbed. Such presentations can be used to explain activities to partners and other stakeholders. Catalogues of worker (avatar) types and skill sets can be built and retained for reference. VP kinematics help plan equipment replacement, optimize crane operations and evaluate robot intervention. More from 3ds.com.
* links/1001_7.
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