Will This Be the Decade of Full Digital Twins for Well Construction?

2021 ◽  
Vol 73 (03) ◽  
pp. 34-37
Author(s):  
Judy Feder

The time needed to eliminate complications and accidents accounts for 20–25% of total well construction time, according to a 2020 SPE paper (SPE 200740). The same paper notes that digital twins have proven to be a key enabler in improving sustainability during well construction, shrinking the carbon footprint by reducing overall drilling time and encouraging and bringing confidence to contactless advisory and collaboration. The paper also points out the potential application of digital twins to activities such as geothermal drilling. Advanced data analytics and machine learning (ML) potentially can reduce engineering hours up to 70% during field development, according to Boston Consulting Group. Increased field automation, remote operations, sensor costs, digital twins, machine learning, and improved computational speed are responsible. It is no surprise, then, that digital twins are taking on a greater sense of urgency for operators, service companies, and drilling contractors working to improve asset and enterprise safety, productivity, and performance management. For 2021, digital twins appear among the oil and gas industry’s top 10 digital spending priorities. DNV GL said in its Technology Outlook 2030 that this could be the decade when cloud computing and advanced simulation see virtual system testing, virtual/augmented reality, and machine learning progressively merge into full digital twins that combine data analytics, real-time, and near-real-time data for installations, subsurface geology, and reservoirs to bring about significant advancements in upstream asset performance, safety, and profitability. The biggest challenges to these advancements, according to the firm, will be establishing confidence in the data and computational models that a digital twin uses and user organizations’ readiness to work with and evolve alongside the digital twin. JPT looked at publications from inside and outside the upstream industry and at several recent SPE papers to get a snapshot of where the industry stands regarding uptake of digital twins in well construction and how the technology is affecting operations and outcomes. Why Digital Twins Gartner Information defines a digital twin as a digital representation of a real-world entity or system. “The implementation of a digital twin,” Gartner writes, “is an encapsulated software object or model that mirrors a unique physical object, process, organization, person or other abstraction.” Data from multiple digital twins can be aggregated for a composite view across several real-world entities and their related processes. In upstream oil and gas, digital twins focus on the well—and, ultimately, the field—and its lifecycle. Unlike a digital simulation, which produces scenarios based on what could happen in the physical world but whose scenarios may not be actionable, a digital twin represents actual events from the physical world, making it possible to visualize and understand real-life scenarios to make better decisions. Digital well construction twins can pertain to single assets or processes and to the reservoir/subsurface or the surface. Ultimately, when process and asset sub-twins are connected, the result is an integrated digital twin of the entire asset or well. Massive sensor technology and the ability to store and handle huge amounts of data from the asset will enable the full digital twin to age throughout the life-cycle of the asset, along with the asset itself (Fig. 1).

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin Goodheart ◽  
Peter Mas ◽  
Maged Ismail ◽  
Umberto Badiali ◽  
Wim Hendicx

Abstract Through the introduction of programmable logic controller (PLCs), Dynamic Process & Controls modeling, integrating with Multiphysics Mechatronics & 3D equipment simulation modeling, companies can work in the online real-time environment. This modeling of equipment or processes builds the foundation for digital transformation of subsea, topside, onshore and plant environments. In the design and operation of field equipment, the physics based Digital Twin is getting more and more traction to develop virtually the equipment because of recent prediction accuracy improvement and faster calculation times. Such digital twins allow to find the optimal operating conditions and predictive maintenance schedules for operation. In this timeslot we will explain, based on few industrial examples, a new set of capabilities that allow companies to get the maximum out of digital twins to be able to use them on their equipment. By applying a structured process using Digital Twins to be able to convert the existing knowledge & data at Companies into solution to be more predictive on their equipment. This will deliver substantial return on investment (ROI) for the Oil and Gas Industry. An AI based methodology to perform Model Order Reduction on the digital twin to be able to get real time response in connection to online unit information An AI based methodology to convert the reduced model into a virtual sensor for online quality predictions or predictive maintenance scheduling as well as to use it for creating an optimal controller of the unit based on the product requirements Fast edge computing hardware that can collect data from sensors and, in real time, run the Executable Digital Twin (xDT) and suggest corrective action to the operator or run in closed loop control


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Nick Petro ◽  
Felipe Lopez

Abstract Aeroderivative gas turbines have their combustion set points adjusted periodically in a process known as remapping. Even turbines that perform well after remapping may produce unacceptable behavior when external conditions change. This article introduces a digital twin that uses real-time measurements of combustor acoustics and emissions in a machine learning model that tracks recent operating conditions. The digital twin is leveraged by an optimizer that select adjustments that allow the unit to maintain combustor dynamics and emissions in compliance without seasonal remapping. Results from a pilot site demonstrate that the proposed approach can allow a GE LM6000PD unit to operate for ten months without seasonal remapping while adjusting to changes in ambient temperature (4 - 38 °C) and to different fuel compositions.


2021 ◽  
Vol 73 (03) ◽  
pp. 25-30
Author(s):  
Srikanta Mishra ◽  
Jared Schuetter ◽  
Akhil Datta-Gupta ◽  
Grant Bromhal

Algorithms are taking over the world, or so we are led to believe, given their growing pervasiveness in multiple fields of human endeavor such as consumer marketing, finance, design and manufacturing, health care, politics, sports, etc. The focus of this article is to examine where things stand in regard to the application of these techniques for managing subsurface energy resources in domains such as conventional and unconventional oil and gas, geologic carbon sequestration, and geothermal energy. It is useful to start with some definitions to establish a common vocabulary. Data analytics (DA)—Sophisticated data collection and analysis to understand and model hidden patterns and relationships in complex, multivariate data sets Machine learning (ML)—Building a model between predictors and response, where an algorithm (often a black box) is used to infer the underlying input/output relationship from the data Artificial intelligence (AI)—Applying a predictive model with new data to make decisions without human intervention (and with the possibility of feedback for model updating) Thus, DA can be thought of as a broad framework that helps determine what happened (descriptive analytics), why it happened (diagnostic analytics), what will happen (predictive analytics), or how can we make something happen (prescriptive analytics) (Sankaran et al. 2019). Although DA is built upon a foundation of classical statistics and optimization, it has increasingly come to rely upon ML, especially for predictive and prescriptive analytics (Donoho 2017). While the terms DA, ML, and AI are often used interchangeably, it is important to recognize that ML is basically a subset of DA and a core enabling element of the broader application for the decision-making construct that is AI. In recent years, there has been a proliferation in studies using ML for predictive analytics in the context of subsurface energy resources. Consider how the number of papers on ML in the OnePetro database has been increasing exponentially since 1990 (Fig. 1). These trends are also reflected in the number of technical sessions devoted to ML/AI topics in conferences organized by SPE, AAPG, and SEG among others; as wells as books targeted to practitioners in these professions (Holdaway 2014; Mishra and Datta-Gupta 2017; Mohaghegh 2017; Misra et al. 2019). Given these high levels of activity, our goal is to provide some observations and recommendations on the practice of data-driven model building using ML techniques. The observations are motivated by our belief that some geoscientists and petroleum engineers may be jumping the gun by applying these techniques in an ad hoc manner without any foundational understanding, whereas others may be holding off on using these methods because they do not have any formal ML training and could benefit from some concrete advice on the subject. The recommendations are conditioned by our experience in applying both conventional statistical modeling and data analytics approaches to practical problems.


2021 ◽  
Vol 73 (10) ◽  
pp. 45-45
Author(s):  
Martin Rylance

Communication and prediction are symmetrical. Communication, in effect, is prediction about what has happened. And prediction is communication about what is going to happen. Few industries contain as many phases, steps, and levels of interface between the start and end product as the oil and gas industry—field, office, offshore, plant, subsea, downhole, not to mention the disciplinary, functional, managerial, logistics handovers, and boundaries that exist. It therefore is hardly surprising that communication, in all its varied forms, is at the very heart of our business. The papers selected this month demonstrate how improved communication can deliver the prediction required for a variety of reasons, including safety, efficiency, and informational purposes. The application of new and exciting ways of working, partially accelerated by recent events, is leading to breakthrough improvements on all levels. Real-time processing, improved visualization, and predictive and machine-learning methods, as well as improvements in all forms of data communication, are all contributing to incremental enhancements across the board. This month, I encourage the reader to review the selected articles and determine where and how the communication and prediction are occurring and what they are delivering. Then perhaps consider performing an exercise wherein your own day-to-day roles—your own areas of communication, interfacing, and cooperation—are reviewed to see what enhancements you can make as an individual. You may be pleasantly surprised that some simple tweaks to your communication style, frequency, and format can deliver quick wins. In an era of remote working for many individuals, it is an exercise that has some value. Recommended additional reading at OnePetro: www.onepetro.org. OTC 30184 - Augmented Machine-Learning Approach of Rate-of-Penetration Prediction for North Sea Oil Field by Youngjun Hong, Seoul National University, et al. OTC 31278 - A Digital Twin for Real-Time Drilling Hydraulics Simulation Using a Hybrid Approach of Physics and Machine Learning by Prasanna Amur Varadarajan, Schlumberger, et al. OTC 31092 - Integrated Underreamer Technology With Real-Time Communication Helped Eliminate Rathole in Exploratory Operation Offshore Nigeria by Raphael Chidiogo Ozioko, Baker Hughes, et al.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rodrigo Chamusca Machado ◽  
Fabbio Leite ◽  
Cristiano Xavier ◽  
Alberto Albuquerque ◽  
Samuel Lima ◽  
...  

Objectives/Scope This paper presents how a brazilian Drilling Contractor and a startup built a partnership to optimize the maintenance window of subsea blowout preventers (BOPs) using condition-based maintenance (CBM). It showcases examples of insights about the operational conditions of its components, which were obtained by applying machine learning techniques in real time and historic, structured or unstructured, data. Methods, Procedures, Process From unstructured and structured historical data, which are generated daily from BOP operations, a knowledge bank was built and used to develop normal functioning models. This has been possible even without real-time data, as it has been tested with large sets of operational data collected from event log text files. Software retrieves the data from Event Loggers and creates structured database, comprising analog variables, warnings, alarms and system information. Using machine learning algorithms, the historical data is then used to develop normal behavior modeling for the target components. Thereby, it is possible to use the event logger or real time data to identify abnormal operation moments and detect failure patterns. Critical situations are immediately transmitted to the RTOC (Real-time Operations Center) and management team, while less critical alerts are recorded in the system for further investigation. Results, Observations, Conclusions During the implementation period, Drilling Contractor was able to identify a BOP failure using the detection algorithms and used 100% of the information generated by the system and reports to efficiently plan for equipment maintenance. The system has also been intensively used for incident investigation, helping to identify root causes through data analytics and retro-feeding the machine learning algorithms for future automated failure predictions. This development is expected to significantly reduce the risk of BOP retrieval during the operation for corrective maintenance, increased staff efficiency in maintenance activities, reducing the risk of downtime and improving the scope of maintenance during operational windows, and finally reduction in the cost of spare parts replacementduring maintenance without impact on operational safety. Novel/Additive Information For the near future, the plan is to integrate the system with the Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS), checking for historical maintenance, overdue maintenance, certifications, at the same place and time that we are getting real-time operational data and insights. Using real-time data as input, we expect to expand the failure prediction application for other BOP parts (such as regulators, shuttle valves, SPMs (Submounted Plate valves), etc) and increase the applicability for other critical equipment on the rig.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (18) ◽  
pp. 6578
Author(s):  
Roman Bambura ◽  
Marek Šolc ◽  
Miroslav Dado ◽  
Luboš Kotek

The digital twin (DT) is undergoing an increase in interest from both an academic and industrial perspective. Although many authors proposed and described various frameworks for DT implementation in the manufacturing industry context, there is an absence of real-life implementation studies reported in the available literature. The main aim of this paper is to demonstrate feasibility of the DT implementation under real conditions of a production plant that is specializing in manufacturing of the aluminum components for the automotive industry. The implementation framework of the DT for engine block manufacturing processes consists of three layers: physical layer, virtual layer and information-processing layer. A simulation model was created using the Tecnomatix Plant Simulation (TPS) software. In order to obtain real-time status data of the production line, programmable logic control (PLC) sensors were used for raw data acquisition. To increase production line productivity, the algorithm for bottlenecks detection was developed and implemented into the DT. Despite the fact that the implementation process is still under development and only partial results are presented in this paper, the DT seems to be a prospective real-time optimization tool for the industrial partner.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Richard Johnson ◽  
Robert Mejia

In this paper, we argue that EVE Online is a fruitful site for exploring how the representational and political-economic elements of science fiction intersect to exert a sociocultural and political-economic force on the shape and nature of the future-present. EVE has been oft heralded for its economic and sociocultural complexity, and for employing a free market ethos and ethics in its game world. However, we by contrast seek not to consider how EVE reflects our contemporary world, but rather how our contemporary neoliberal milieu reflects EVE. We explore how EVE works to make its world of neoliberal markets and borderline anarcho-capitalism manifest through the political economic and sociocultural assemblages mobilized beyond the game. We explore the deep intertwining of  behaviors of players both within and outside of the game, demonstrating that EVE promotes neoliberal  activity in its players, encourages these behaviors outside the game, and that players who have found success in the real world of neoliberal capitalism are those best-positioned for success in the time-demanding and resource-demanding world of EVE. This thereby sets up a reciprocal ideological determination between the real and virtual worlds of EVE players, whereby each reinforces the other. We lastly consider the “Alliance Tournament” event, which romanticizes conflict and competition, and argue that it serves as a crucial site for deploying a further set of similar rhetorical resources. The paper therefore offers an understanding of the sociocultural and political-economic pressure exerted on the “physical” world by the intersection of EVE’s representational and material elements, and what these show us about the real-world ideological power of science fictional worlds.


Processes ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (8) ◽  
pp. 537 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rafael M. Soares ◽  
Maurício M. Câmara ◽  
Thiago Feital ◽  
José Carlos Pinto

Digital twins are rigorous mathematical models that can be used to represent the operation of real systems. This connection allows for deeper understanding of the actual states of the analyzed system through estimation of variables that are difficult to measure otherwise. In this context, the present manuscript describes the successful implementation of a digital twin to represent a four-stage multi-effect evaporation train from an industrial sugar-cane processing unit. Particularly, the complex phenomenological effects, including the coupling between thermodynamic and fluid dynamic effects, and the low level of instrumentation in the plant constitute major challenges for adequate process operation. For this reason, dynamic mass and energy balances were developed, implemented and validated with actual industrial data, in order to provide process information for decision-making in real time. For example, the digital twin was able to indicate failure of process sensors and to provide estimates for the affected variables in real time, improving the robustness of the operation and constituting an important tool for process monitoring.


Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (24) ◽  
pp. 8194
Author(s):  
Mehdi Kherbache ◽  
Moufida Maimour ◽  
Eric Rondeau

The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) is known to be a complex system because of its severe constraints as it controls critical applications. It is difficult to manage such networks and keep control of all the variables impacting their operation during their whole lifecycle. Meanwhile, Digital Twinning technology has been increasingly used to optimize the performances of industrial systems and has been ranked as one of the top ten most promising technological trends in the next decade. Many Digital Twins of industrial systems exist nowadays but only few are destined to networks. In this paper, we propose a holistic digital twinning architecture for the IIoT where the network is integrated along with the other industrial components of the system. To do so, the concept of Network Digital Twin is introduced. The main motivation is to permit a closed-loop network management across the whole network lifecycle, from the design to the service phase. Our architecture leverages the Software Defined Networking (SDN) paradigm as an expression of network softwarization. Mainly, the SDN controller allows for setting up the connection between each Digital Twin of the industrial system and its physical counterpart. We validate the feasibility of the proposed architecture in the process of choosing the most suitable communication mechanism that satisfies the real-time requirements of a Flexible Production System.


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