Digital Twin Concept for Risk Analysis of Oil Storage Tanks in Operations: a Systems Engineering Approach

This paper presents an approach to develop a risk monitoring tool for oil storage facilities. The suggested approach is derived from the existing dynamic risk analysis (DRA) methods and the digital twin concepts. One of the main challenges in practical applications of DRA methods is insufficient amount of relevant data, and it seems that digital twin models can overcome this challenge by offering increased availability of real-time data. It can be interesting to judge if their combination can provide the intended advantages with a structured and more holistic viewpoint. Therefore, this paper demonstrates how a representative systems engineering (SE) methodology may be used to facilitate the process of developing an improved risk monitoring tool.publishedVersio

Sustainable Innovation in a Multi-University Master Course

Mobility, multi-locality, and transnational migration are current social developments among the population of the European Union. These social developments in society and companies, linked to the challenges of sustainability, lead to new requirements for working in the European Union. Teaching and learning in higher education needs to adapt to these requirements. As a result, new and innovative teaching and learning practices in higher education should provide competencies for transnational teamwork in the curriculum of tomorrow's engineers in order to ensure their competitiveness in the job market and advantage in their future careers. Thirteen European students from four countries participated in a new project-based course, called the "European Engineering Team". Students focused on the development of two innovative and sustainable products. The goal of this paper is to present the thermal pallet cover, which is the result of the first one-year transnational and sustainability-oriented project. This paper also aims to present the process of performing the project. It provides the overview and discussion of engineering and management tasks that students completed in the transnational environment, working remotely at their own campuses between scheduled transnational meetings. The work contributes to project-oriented learning that may constitute a basis for teaching holistic engineering courses at mechanical and industrial engineering departments

Getting Students Hooked on Systems Engineering!

AbstractThe author has reported most recently at IS2012 about initiatives in the Norwegian University of Science and Technology to help students learn about SE by doing SE. She address the question, “lacking a degree program in the university dedicated to SE, what is the best way to give students a taste of SE that makes them want more?” Success of the efforts to date has been indicated by a 100% employment in Norway of all students who demonstrate an awareness of and willingness to learn more about SE.The paper describes three initiatives: results from a PhD level course that has run for 12 years, including publications; lab exercises for a master level course on Industrial Design-SE that has run for 3 years; and a master thesis project that has experienced recent success attributed to the introduction of a systems engineer role on the project team since 2011.The conclusion is that letting students ‘try out’ systems engineering practices in a laboratory/project environment offers them learning experiences that clearly demonstrate the value of systems engineering practices and theory

A Systems Engineering Framework for Bioeconomic Transitions in a Sustainable Development Goal Context

To address sustainable development goals (SDGs), national and international strategies have been increasingly interested in the bioeconomy. SDGs have been criticized for lacking stakeholder perspectives and agency, and for requiring too little of business. There is also a lack of both systematic and systemic frameworks for the strategic planning of bioeconomy transitions. Using a systems engineering approach, we seek to address this with a process framework to bridge bioeconomy transitions by addressing SDGs. In this methodology paper, we develop a systems archetype mapping framework for sustainable bioeconomy transitions, called MPAST: Mapping Problem Archetypes to Solutions for Transitions. Using this framework with sector-specific stakeholder data facilitates the establishment of the start (problem state) and end (solution state) to understand and analyze sectorial transitions to the bioeconomy. We apply the MPAST framework to the case of a Norwegian agricultural bioeconomy transition, using data from a survey of the Norwegian agricultural sector on transitioning to a bioeconomy. The results of using this framework illustrate how visual mapping methods can be combined as a process, which we then discuss in the context of SDG implementation.A Systems Engineering Framework for Bioeconomic Transitions in a Sustainable Development Goal ContextpublishedVersio

Developing domain-specific AI-based tools to boost cross-enterprise knowledge reuse and improve quality

MHWirth observed that several quality issues surfaced during the product commissioning phase causing a negative impact on project cost, delivery time, and customer satisfaction. By using root cause analyses, this research found several links between poor quality and lack of proper knowledge management. With better knowledge management, most of these quality issues could be addressed and solved at an earlier stage of the product life cycle. Today different barriers are preventing organizations from taking full advantage of previously generated valuable knowledge. This paper explores how the use of Artificial Intelligence can boost knowledge reuse. The goal is to empower faster and more informed decision-making based on lessons learned in the past to minimize waste, rework, re-invention and redundancy

Application of Systems Engineering and Sustainable Development Goals towards Sustainable Management of Fishing Gear Resources in Norway

Commercial fishing is a critical economic sector for Norway, yet deficiency of scientific information, regulatory instruments, inadequate implementation, and lack of management infrastructure are among the significant causes of mismanagement of fishing gear (FG) resources. Mismanagement of FGs results in leakage of plastics through abandoned, lost, or discarded fishing gears (ALDFG), which is the most threatening litter fraction for marine wildlife. In EU-EEA states, the management of ALDFG is prioritized through a dedicated circular economy (CE) action plan. Historically, systems engineering (SE) methods are successfully applied for resource management studies. This study adopts and applies the SPADE method to evaluate sustainable management for the system of FG resources in Norway. SPADE comprises five problem-solving activities covering stakeholders, problem formulation, analysis, decision-making, and continuous evaluation. Each activity is accomplished by data collected through stakeholder interviews and literature analysis to establish an initial structure of problems and associated management strategies across FG’s life cycle phases. The application of SPADE spanned across four years (2017–2020) and resulted in scientific outcomes aimed at the common goal of improving the system of FG resources in Norway within the framework of sustainable development goals and CE. SPADE’s practice to integrate stakeholders at each step and provision for continual systems evaluation proved effective in building a holistic understanding of the complex system

Engaging Mechanical Engineers in System Modeling

In Model Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) the system model is used to capture and share Systems Engineering (SE) data and artifacts. Using the model to communicate with the project engineers is found to be more successful with software (SW) engineers than with other domains. As a result, the system model is developed unevenly. This article reports on how a company, whose system model is decisively more detailed in its description of SW sub‐systems, might better involve mechanical (and other) engineers in system modeling. Case‐based research is applied to understand the company's challenges. The conclusion is that the challenges originate from failing to consider the differences in how these domains view and relate to a system under development. The research determined that the models developed in the company‐specific tool implementation were incapable of producing useful deliverables for non‐software engineers. In the absence of a plan for how a mechanical engineer could access information from the model, the authors recommend defining a modeling environment to ensure the necessary contributions from both systems engineers and mechanical engineers

On Linking of Task Analysis in the HRA Procedure: The Case of HRA in Offshore Drilling Activities

Human reliability analysis (HRA) has become an increasingly important element in many industries for the purpose of risk management and major accident prevention; for example, recently to perform and maintain probabilistic risk assessments of offshore drilling activities, where human reliability plays a vital role. HRA experience studies, however, continue to warn about potential serious quality assurance issues associated with HRA methods, such as too much variability in comparable analysis results between analysts. A literature review highlights that this lack of HRA consistency can be traced in part to the HRA procedure and a lack of explicit application of task analysis relevant to a wide set of activity task requirements. As such, the need for early identification of and consistent focus on important human performance factors among analysts may suffer, and consequently, so does the ability to achieve continuous enhancements of the safety level related to offshore drilling activities. In this article, we propose a method that clarifies a drilling HRA procedure. More precisely, this article presents a novel method for the explicit integration of a generic task analysis framework into the probabilistic basis of a drilling HRA method. The method is developed and demonstrated under specific considerations of multidisciplinary task and well safety analysis, using well accident data, an HRA causal model, and principles of barrier management in offshore regulations to secure an acceptable risk level in the activities from its application