Subsea Structure and Pipeline Design Automation Using Digital Field Twin
Authors: Bhowmik Subrata , Naik Harit 
Published: April 2020

The main objective of this paper is to demonstrate a cost-effective, user-friendly and highly reliable subsea pipeline and subsea structure design automation method developed on a cloud-based digital field twin platform. The FEED and detail design phase of the subsea pipeline and subsea structures are normally quite long and need to run several analyses sequentially to achieve the desired results. In this cloud-based design automation method, a significant number of calculation hours are saved due to systematic and sequential approach with minimum remediation work by reducing human error.

In this proposed design automation framework, all the standard pipeline and subsea structure design calculations including code checks based on design standards are performed through a web-based graphical user interface (GUI) designed in cloud-based digital field twin. In the design phase of the subsea pipeline, some more advanced level pipeline finite element analyses are performed for buckling and walking assessment. The design phase of the subsea pipeline consists of different analytical as well as finite element (FE) calculations which are performed systematically and sequentially in cloud-based digital field twin. Various pipeline engineering calculations are performed sequentially and systematically in the cloud using the metadata information available from the digital field data. Some of the standard engineering calculations implemented in the digital field twin are wall thickness calculation (based on design standards), on-bottom stability analysis, span analysis, pipe end expansion analysis, pipeline global buckling analysis etc. All the standard pipeline and subsea structure design calculations are developed in python, which is connected to the cloud-based digital twin through API. For advanced FE analyses for lateral buckling and pipeline walking, the preliminary susceptibilities are assessed through analytical calculations developed through python-based API. For the pipeline FE analysis for lateral buckling and walking assessment, pre-processor and post-processor are developed in python based on various metadata (pipe data, soil, environment) information available in the subsea digital field.

The pipeline design calculation outputs are stored in a standardised report format in the cloud platform. The proposed GUI developed for the pipeline and structural design automation is user friendly and the whole process is automated through the python API. This design automation approach significantly reduces the total project cost. Digital Field Twin integrate all the subsea pipeline and structural design calculations and automate the report generation. The proposed digital field twin is very much beneficial for the early stages in the projects where some changes are expected.

This subsea pipeline and structural design automation system built on the cloud-based digital field twin through API so that it works as an integrated system giving 3D digital field diagram to perform all the design calculations in one digital platform.