Altair Case Studies HyperWorks' Impact on Subsea Oil and Gas Industry: A Duco Case Study

	HyperWorks' Impact on Subsea Oil and Gas Industry: A Duco Case Study Altair

HyperWorks' Impact on Subsea Oil and Gas Industry: A Duco Case Study

Altair

Technology Category	Sensors - Haptic Sensors Sensors - Utility Meters
Applicable Industries	Buildings Equipment & Machinery
Applicable Functions	Product Research & Development Quality Assurance
Use Cases	Mesh Networks Visual Quality Detection
Services	Testing & Certification
Challenge	Duco, a major subsea engineering design, manufacturing, and testing facility, faced significant challenges in improving their Computer-Aided Engineering (CAE) model generation and analysis procedures for their bespoke products. These products, known as subsea 'umbilicals', are complex structures designed to withstand extreme pressure, temperature conditions, and adverse weather in hydrocarbon fields at water depths beyond 3,000 meters. The umbilicals connect the topside platform or vessel with seabed equipment, including pumping stations with electricity and hydraulic pressure. Duco's challenge was to speed up the analysis time for these structures, which had to endure demanding fatigue load cases. They were also experiencing issues with mesh quality with their incumbent pre-processor, prompting the need for a change. Read More
About Customer	Duco is a part of the Technip Group and is a significant player in the subsea engineering design, manufacturing, and testing industry. Duco's engineers are tasked with developing equipment capable of withstanding the extreme pressure and temperature conditions of hydrocarbon fields at water depths beyond 3,000 meters. The company primarily focuses on designing subsea 'umbilicals' that connect the topside platform or vessel and equipment installed on the seabed, including pumping stations with electricity and hydraulic pressure. Read More
Solution	Duco chose HyperMesh, a pre-processor from HyperWorks, as their mesh generation tool to address their challenges. HyperMesh allowed Duco to significantly improve their models by providing direct control of the mesh output and enabling continuous mesh quality checks to ensure consistency throughout the model. The tool proved faster than Duco's incumbent tool in model generation and allowed the use of model symmetry. This meant that only a section of the umbilical required manual meshing, which could then be propagated across the entire model. Custom scripts even facilitated automatic meshing and extrusion of the spiraling internal cabling. Furthermore, HyperWorks' commitment to an open architecture ensured that the output files were fully compatible with Duco's existing solver codes. Read More Log in to view content
Contents

Technology Category

Sensors - Haptic Sensors

Sensors - Utility Meters

Applicable Industries

Buildings

Equipment & Machinery

Applicable Functions

Product Research & Development

Quality Assurance

Use Cases

Mesh Networks

Visual Quality Detection

Services

Testing & Certification

Challenge

Duco, a major subsea engineering design, manufacturing, and testing facility, faced significant challenges in improving their Computer-Aided Engineering (CAE) model generation and analysis procedures for their bespoke products. These products, known as subsea 'umbilicals', are complex structures designed to withstand extreme pressure, temperature conditions, and adverse weather in hydrocarbon fields at water depths beyond 3,000 meters. The umbilicals connect the topside platform or vessel with seabed equipment, including pumping stations with electricity and hydraulic pressure. Duco's challenge was to speed up the analysis time for these structures, which had to endure demanding fatigue load cases. They were also experiencing issues with mesh quality with their incumbent pre-processor, prompting the need for a change.

About Customer

Duco is a part of the Technip Group and is a significant player in the subsea engineering design, manufacturing, and testing industry. Duco's engineers are tasked with developing equipment capable of withstanding the extreme pressure and temperature conditions of hydrocarbon fields at water depths beyond 3,000 meters. The company primarily focuses on designing subsea 'umbilicals' that connect the topside platform or vessel and equipment installed on the seabed, including pumping stations with electricity and hydraulic pressure.

Solution

Duco chose HyperMesh, a pre-processor from HyperWorks, as their mesh generation tool to address their challenges. HyperMesh allowed Duco to significantly improve their models by providing direct control of the mesh output and enabling continuous mesh quality checks to ensure consistency throughout the model. The tool proved faster than Duco's incumbent tool in model generation and allowed the use of model symmetry. This meant that only a section of the umbilical required manual meshing, which could then be propagated across the entire model. Custom scripts even facilitated automatic meshing and extrusion of the spiraling internal cabling. Furthermore, HyperWorks' commitment to an open architecture ensured that the output files were fully compatible with Duco's existing solver codes.

Impact #1	The adoption of HyperMesh brought about a transformative change in Duco's operations. The tool not only improved the quality of their models but also significantly sped up the model generation process. The use of model symmetry and automated meshing techniques reduced manual work and increased efficiency. Furthermore, the compatibility of HyperMesh's output files with Duco's existing solver codes ensured a smooth integration of the tool into Duco's workflow. The overall result was a faster, more efficient, and higher quality design and manufacturing process for Duco's subsea umbilicals.

Impact #1

The adoption of HyperMesh brought about a transformative change in Duco's operations. The tool not only improved the quality of their models but also significantly sped up the model generation process. The use of model symmetry and automated meshing techniques reduced manual work and increased efficiency. Furthermore, the compatibility of HyperMesh's output files with Duco's existing solver codes ensured a smooth integration of the tool into Duco's workflow. The overall result was a faster, more efficient, and higher quality design and manufacturing process for Duco's subsea umbilicals.

Benefit #1	Duco witnessed a significant increase in analysis productivity with HyperMesh.
Benefit #2	Model generation times were reduced from days of manual work to hours and minutes by implementing automated meshing techniques.
Benefit #3	HyperMesh's increased mesh quality capabilities enabled Duco to reach a design solution faster than had been previously possible.

Benefit #1

Duco witnessed a significant increase in analysis productivity with HyperMesh.

Benefit #2

Model generation times were reduced from days of manual work to hours and minutes by implementing automated meshing techniques.

Benefit #3

HyperMesh's increased mesh quality capabilities enabled Duco to reach a design solution faster than had been previously possible.

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Overview

HyperWorks' Impact on Subsea Oil and Gas Industry: A Duco Case Study

Operational Impact

Quantitative Benefit