Seatrade Maritime is part of the Informa Markets Division of Informa PLC

This site is operated by a business or businesses owned by Informa PLC and all copyright resides with them. Informa PLC's registered office is 5 Howick Place, London SW1P 1WG. Registered in England and Wales. Number 8860726.

Simulation – ‘from almost real to beyond real’

Simulation – ‘from almost real to beyond real’
Maritime simulation has undergone a transformation over the last three years, largely as a result of computer processing speeds and the ability to create real simulation in real time.

This, according to Joe Mills, the Chief Executive of the Offshore Simulation Centre (OSC) in Aalesund on Norway’s west coast, is a transformational technology that enables “virtual prototyping”, leading to huge safety benefits, and time and cost savings of up to 20%.

Speaking to journalists recently at OCS’s headquarters at the high-tech Norwegian maritime competence centre at the heart of the Sunmøre region, Mills explained how OSC was established as a university spin-off in 2005 but has now become a world-leading technology company spearheading the very latest developments in simulation science.

The exponential increase in computer processing speeds, he said, has enabled yesterday’s simulation techniques, mostly used in education and training, to develop into high-level virtual prototyping, applicable across a range of industrial sectors, particularly in increasingly complex and potentially hazardous maritime and offshore applications.

From 95% training three years ago, he said, virtual prototyping now makes up more than 95% of OSC’s business … training less than 5%. And simulation models which took six months to build a couple of years ago now take six weeks and, by the end of this year, could be down to just six days.

Certainly, the list of OSC’s clients reads like something of a roll-call of offshore oil, OSV and classification heavyweights – Aker Solutions, BP, Bourbon, ConocoPhillips, DNV GL, Havila, Island Offshore, Marintek, Oceaneering, Olympic, Remøy Shipping, Rolls-Royce, Statoil and Technip.

So what is virtual prototyping?

It is the modelling of real-life processes and tasks so that personnel can practice situation assessment and awareness, execution and strategy, and “what-if” experimentation, all with no risk. It has applications across countless every-day and one-off procedures offshore, in renewables, fishing, commercial shipping, decommissioning as well as countless application ashore.  

Simulators can now be programmed so that just the push of button can model a complex marine or offshore operation in real time. Even highly experienced personnel can experiment and familiarise themselves with the specific dangers and challenges of that procedure. So, for example, the placing of a subsea Christmas tree, subsea construction generally, ROV operations, or the ship-to-rig transfer of heavy components in heavy seas can be modelled and practiced as a virtual prototype.

Real physics in real time has developed so much over the last three years, Mills explained, that many people actually forget that they’re in a simulator … the experience is so real. This has truly dramatic implications for the increasingly complex and risky procedures associated with offshore subsea developments in deeper waters and harsher conditions. Between 80-85% of accidents involve human error, he pointed out – roughly 50% initiated by human error, and 30% associated with it. Often, this is down to a lack of situational awareness or an inability to make the right decision quickly.

Ironically, the oil price crash, Mills said, has proved to be a catalyst in accelerating the technology’s development. Energy companies and their contractors are more determined than ever to find ways in which to improve safety, raise efficiency, save time and cut costs. No surprise, then, when Mills revealed that occasional invitations to speak at industry gatherings a few years ago, probably on the use of simulation to educate students, have turned into a stream of requests to present both publicly and privately on the latest advances in simulation technology.

Like other aspects of digitalisation, virtual prototyping will become a routine aspect of everyday engineering and operating business sooner than we think.