Designing a virtual cockpit for helicopter offshore operations

In recent years the number of offshore wind farms is rapidly increasing. Especially coastal European countries are building numerous offshore wind turbines in the Baltic, the North, and the Irish Sea. During both construction and operation of these wind farms, many specially-equipped helicopters are on duty. Due to their flexibility, their hover capability, and their higher speed compared to ships, these aircraft perform important tasks like helicopter emergency medical services (HEMS) as well as passenger and freight transfer flights. The missions often include specific challenges like ship landings or hoist operations to drop off workers onto wind turbines. However, adverse weather conditions frequently limit offshore helicopter operations. In such scenarios, the adoption of aircraft-mounted sensors and obstacle databases together with helmet-mounted displays (HMD) seems to offer great potential to improve the operational capabilities of the helicopters used. By displaying environmental information in a visual conformal manner, these systems mitigate the loss of visual reference to the environment. This helps the pilots to maintain proper situational awareness (SA). This paper presents how our previously introduced concept of an HMD-based virtual flight deck can enhance offshore helicopter missions. The advantages of this system – for instance its “see-through the airframe”-capability and its highly-flexible cockpit instrument setup – enable us to design entirely novel pilot assistance systems. The work analyzes the specific requirements on our virtual cockpit so as to assist the helicopter crew in offshore-specific tasks. The gained knowledge is used to propose and evaluate concepts for a virtual cockpit that is tailor-made for helicopter offshore maneuvers

Two phase partitioning bioreactor applied to produced water treatment

Produced waters are the largest waste associated with the production of oil and gas; they contain dissolved salts, oil (dissolved and scattered organic compounds), chemicals and additives involved in the oil well operations, suspended particles, sand and other compounds, making their treatment very complex. In this paper, we propose the use of a TPPB (two phase partitioning bioreactor) for the biological treatment of produced waters. We model the application of the TPPB on the stream after classical pre-treatment stages: the reactor behaviour is based on the controlled release of substrate by means of an organic solvent. This study aims at developing a mathematical model for a TPPB adopting oleic alcohol (Adol 85 NF) as a solvent: we test model reliability by means of a sensitivity analysis in order to evaluate the reactor efficiency for chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal in a produced water stream, aimed at water reuse

Аналіз стану нормативної бази з радіаційної безпеки у нафтогазовій галузі України

У статті проаналізовано вітчизняний і світовий досвід поводження з матеріалами, забрудненими природними радіонуклідами, та стан нормативного забезпечення радіаційної безпеки в нафтогазовій галузі України. З метою забезпечення радіаційної безпеки персоналу, населення та довкілля запропоновано розробити галузевий нормативний документ.В статье проанализирован отечественный и всемирный опыт обращения с материалами, загрязненными природными радионуклидами, и состояние нормативного обеспечения радиационной безопасности в нефтегазовой отрасли Украины. С целью обеспечения радиационной безопасности персонала, населения и окружающей среды предложено разработать отраслевой нормативный документ.The article analyzes the domestic and international experience in dealing with materials contaminated by radionuclides of natural origin, as well as state regulations on radiation safety in the oil and gas industry of Ukraine. With the purpose of ensuring radiation safety of personnel, population and environment the author suggests drafting of a specialized industry regulatory document

Il servizio WCTS del Geoportale Nazionale

The 2007/2/CE INSPIRE directive requires every Member State to implement a set of services to facilitate the interchange of spatial data; the Coordinate Transformation Service (CTS) is one of the geometric transformation services required by the directive. The Italian National Geoportal (GN) has recently published a new set of public access services that enable the users to transform and convert the coordinate reference system of geographic data within the Italian territory using the high-accuracy correction data provided by the Istituto Geografico Militare Italiano (IGM). This article will illustrate these newly published services: a browser-based web application to transform raster and vector files or sets of coordinates and an OGC-compliant Web Coordinate Transformation Service (WCTS) that performs on the fly transformation of GML (Geography Markup Language) data

Waste to want: polymer nanocomposites using nanoclays extracted from oil based drilling mud waste.

Due to the European Union (EU) waste frame work directive (WFD), legislations have been endorsed in EU member states such as UK for the Recycling of wastes with a vision to prevent and reduce landfilling of waste. Spent oil based drilling mud (drilling fluid) is a waste from the Oil and Gas industry with great potentials for recycling after appropriate clean-up and treatment processes. This research is the novel application of nanoclays extracted from spent oil based drilling mud (drilling fluid) clean-up as nanofiller in the manufacture of nanocomposite materials. Research and initial experiments have been undertaken which investigate the suitability of Polyamide 6 (PA6) as potential polymer of interest. SEM and EDAX were used to ascertain morphological and elemental characteristics of the nanofiller. ICPOES has been used to ascertain the metal concentration of the untreated nanofiller to be treated (by oil and heavy metal extraction) before the production of nanocomposite materials. The challenges faced and future works are also discussed

Contributions of gas flaring to a global air pollution hotspot:spatial and temporal variations, impacts and alleviation

Studies of environmental impacts of gas flaring in the Niger Delta are hindered by limited access to official flaring emissions records and a paucity of reliable ambient monitoring data. This study uses a combination of geospatial technologies and dispersion modelling techniques to evaluate air pollution impacts of gas flaring on human health and natural ecosystems in the region. Results indicate that gas flaring is a major contributor to air pollution across the region, with concentrations exceeding WHO limits in some locations over certain time periods. Due to the predominant south-westerly wind, concentrations are higher in some states with little flaring activity than in others with significant flaring activity. Twenty million people inhabit areas of high flare-associated air pollution, which include all of the main ecological zones of the region, indicating that flaring poses a substantial threat to human health and the environment. Model scenarios demonstrated that substantial reductions in pollution could be achieved by stopping flaring at a small number of the most active sites and by improving overall flaring efficiency

An introduction to the offshore basics : fire safety of a drillship, Drilling Rig Unit (DRU)

The purpose of this Bachelor’s thesis was to study the basics that ship designers should know when moving from the familiar ship design duties to the unfamiliar offshore industry. The thesis was carried out as an assignment of Foreship Ltd. This thesis uses the term offshore to refer to oil and gas drilling only. In Finland several ship design and engineering companies have also expanded their activities to the offshore field, of which only a few designers have previous experience. Designers have attuned to the rules and regulations related to ships but the rules of offshore design are derived from a different rule book. In the thesis offshore as a definition is explained. Also different rig and vessel types are presented as well as the greatest offshore operators. Additionally, different offshore rules and their regulators are introduced in the thesis. In the actual study part the fire safety rules of passenger ships were compared to drillships defined by two different rule books. SOLAS and MODU Code both by International Maritime Organization were applied in the comparison. The differences were illustrated with help of comparison drawings and tables made according to the above-mentioned rule books. The requirements of fire insulation were presented in the comparison. Even with a brief examination, significant differences can be detected between ship design and offshore design. The functional requirements of vessels under consideration are very different from each other and therefore, the safety requirements vary significantly in some cases. There are a lot of new pointers in this thesis that a traditional ship designer can utilize when moving to a new design area. The study could be expanded by comparing national regulations and standards. The field is very broad because, in addition to the rule books, almost every country applies their own national regulations and standards to their design projects.Tämän insinöörityön tarkoituksena on tutkia tärkeitä perusasioita, joita laivansuunnittelijoiden tulisi tuntea siirtyessään tutuista laivansuunnittelutehtävistä tuntemattomalle offshore-alalle. Työ toteutetaan Foreship Oy:n tehtävänantona. Offshore sisältää tässä työssä merellä tapahtuvan öljyn- ja kaasunporauksen. Useat laivansuunnittelutoimistot Suomessa ovat laajentaneet toimintaansa myös offshore-alalle, josta harvalla suunnittelijalla on aiempaa kokemusta. Suunnittelijat ovat tottuneet laivoja koskeviin sääntöihin ja ohjeistuksiin, mutta offshore-suunnittelun säännöt tulevat eri sääntökirjasta. Työssä selitetään offshore-käsite, esitellään lautta- ja alustyyppejä ja suurimpia offshore-alueita ja -toimijoita. Työssä tehdään selkoa erilaisista offshore-säännöistä ja niiden valvojista. Varsinaisessa tutkimusosassa tutkitaan kahden sääntökirjan määräämiä paloturvallisuussääntöjä matkustajalaivojen ja porauslaivojen välillä. Vertailuun sovelletaan International Maritime Organizationin laatimia SOLAS- ja MODU Code -säännöstöjä. Eroavaisuuksia havainnollistetaan muun muassa edellä mainittujen sääntökirjojen avulla tehdyillä vertailukuvilla ja -taulukoilla, joissa esitetään porauslaivan paloeristysvaatimusten eroja. Suppeallakin tarkastelulla havaitaan merkittäviä eroja laivansuunnittelussa ja offshore-suunnittelussa. Vertailtavien alusten toimintavaatimukset ovat kuitenkin niin erilaiset, että turvallisuusvaatimukset vaihtelevat joissakin tilanteissa merkittävästikin. Uusia asioita perinteiselle laivansuunnittelijalle ilmenee paljon, jolloin tämä työ antaa suunnittelijalle hyvän pohjan uuden suunnittelualan valtaamiselle. Tutkimusta voitaisiin laajentaa ottamalla vertailuun erilaisia maakohtaisia säännöstöjä ja standardeja. Aihealue on erittäin laaja, koska lähestulkoon kaikki valtiot soveltavat edellä mainittujen sääntökirjojen lisäksi omia kansallisia ohjeistuksia ja standardeja suunnitteluprojekteissaan

Perencanaan Rute Evakuasi pada Kasus Kebocoran Pipa Gas Alam dengan Simulasi Berbasis Computational Fluid Dynamic

Melting of metals generally used the energy source of natural gas which is flowed through a pipeline at high pressure. Production activities in companies that use these gases have high potential hazards because they can cause fires or explosions if not managed properly. This study aims to analyzed natural gas dispersion in the event of gas pipeline leak, determine assembly point and evacuation route map plan for workers in the event of emergency condition. Natural gas dispersion was simulated using Computational Fluid Dynamic Ansys Fluent. Results of simulation showed distribution concentration of natural gas indoors at leakage almost uniform with concentration between 5%-13,17%. At that concentration the mixture of air and natural gas has the potential to explode because it is in the range of natural gas flammability. The maximum natural gas concentration of 13.17% at a height of 12 m above the leak hole. Generated two points Assembly point based on the calculation of blast radius with total area of 58,500 cm2 and can accommodate as many as 65 workers.Keywords :CFD Simulation, Natural Gas Dispersion, Assembly point, Evacuation Rut

A case study of safety performance variations among a general contractor’s regional branches

In construction, contractors’ safety performance could differ from each other due to various reasons (e.g., the importance of safety at workplace, the adoption of different safety and health programs, the use of union or non-union workers, etc.). However, it has not been widely recognized that differences in safety performance also exist in the same contractor’s regional offices. So far, the impact of regional differences on contractors’ safety performance has not been well understood. In a case study of a general contractor’s (GC’s) newly launched safety management program, variations in safety performance of the same GC’s regional branches were noticed. This paper analyzes incidence rates (IRs), safety violation rates (SVRs), and workplace safety climate from the GC’s six major regional branches in four states. This research finds apparent regional differences in IR and SVR although the workers’ shared perception of how the safety program is implemented (i.e., program-related safety climate) is consistent companywide. This research also finds that regional IRs, SVRs, and safety climate scores have no correlational relationship. Therefore, integrating all these three factors into a safety management program and its effectiveness measurement is necessary and will lead to a more holistic approach to improving jobsite safety performance