3D Simulation Technology for Oil & Gas Industry
Client
Our client is a leading oil service company offering engineering, maintenance, modification, and operation services for oil and gas fields. With globally distributed operations, our client provides its customers with up-scale technical support and educational services through a number of training centers equipped with dedicated simulation labs.
Challenge
Intego Group was tasked with recreating the real-life scenario of installing new equipment on existing offshore oil rigs. To design exact virtual copies of these rigs, the software engineers had to develop a special algorithm to import CAD models of real parts of the rig, as well as consider other parameters and environmental factors. The goal was to employ these specifications in a 3D model to find the best possible combination for training the team before real-life installation took place.
Oil rig parameters and environmental factors considered:
- Wind strength
- Wave force
- Lifting crane position
- Installation team qualification
- Main drilling equipment
- Weather conditions and many others
Solution
3D simulators offer industry the ability to practice installation and understand potential risks
Intego Group partnered with the client to develop a state-of-the-art 3D Simulation and Visualization software platform for the oil and gas drilling process. Over the course of nine years, Intego designed conventional drilling and well control simulators that allowed both real-time and cloud-based training for drilling, well control, and crane operations.
Together with software developers on the customer side, our engineers spent several years developing a suite of advanced, 3D, real-time industrial software solutions. By utilizing strong in-house subject matter expertise and building a dedicated software development team with our company, our customer was able to achieve the extensive advantages of the near-shore outsourcing model while delivering complicated and time-sensitive engineering products. Among the numerous software engineering solutions developed by our engineers, the full-scale training simulator provides users with training and practical understanding of operations of the main drilling equipment, such as:
- Operator console simulation
- Electro and control system function
- Interaction between the control system and drilling equipment
- Single machine simulation
- Hydraulic system training
- Safety and troubleshooting simulation
The 3D simulators that Intego Group’s software engineers developed offered the client, the industry, and the environment a level of protection never before available in oil and gas. These solutions were then used worldwide by the industry’s largest producers to ensure their teams were prepared for the complexity of real-world installation and the risks associated with it.
Result
Using 3D simulators, developed by Intego Group’s software engineers, has allowed the client to implement multiple successful installations worldwide. By identifying and creating virtual scenarios of what would or could happen during real-world installation, Intego offered global oil and gas corporations the opportunity to perform and perfect equipment installation. This, in turn, reduced the risk of error and injury and the need to keep rigs shut down for longer than necessary.
The use of 3D simulators not only saved the oil and gas industry millions of dollars in damages and idle rig time, it helped to protect the environment from potential errors both during and after installment.