Digital Twin Applications in EPC Projects

Abstract Engineering drawings are the most critical project documentation, which provides processing plant blueprint. Relational database and attributes driven graphics are being used to transform CAD drawing to intelligent drawings. These intelligent drawings and design data is used to make smart decisions. The latest methods to create project digital twin are evolving to make use of these intelligent drawings. This paper discusses the user friendly and innovative solutions to accomplish digital twin goals at EPC stage. P&ID is a valuable data source for oil and gas projects. It is used to generate pipelines, instrumentations and equipment lists. These are mainly used for material take-off and other procurement purposes. In Intelligent P&IDs these lists reporting may be customized and attained, automatically. During digital twin creation process, sharing of data with different departments via direct links and data lake is necessitated. During project EPC stage, data lake may be used to find many out of the box solutions e.g., training AI models to predict project completion dates and material supply-demand issues, proactively. Due to stringent project schedules, it is always challenging to achieve an important milestone of timely issuance of Intelligent P&IDs. Variety of difficulties during development of intelligent P&IDs are summarized below: Drafting of modification and demolition P&IDs for brown-field projectDrafting of colour coded system turnover P&IDsRevision & scope clouds Customization to meet digital twin requirements methods in available intelligent software are not user friendly. Many steps are involved to perform above mentioned tasks. Various lists generated from P&IDs such as line list consumes significant time and prone to error if not managed properly. Digital twin requirements make it further complex. Various techniques are used to perform routine drafting of P&IDs, attain required reporting and digital twin targets. However, these need to be managed and customized by highly skilled professionals. There is a need for tailor-made solutions in the intelligent P&ID software to make operations user friendly. Cloud computing big data handling capability and AI may help to meet digital twin requirements. Archiving and retrieving data from ultra-fast cloud facilities may solve many problems. This paper provides ideas to debottleneck various limitations in the currently available drafting software. It is to add more intelligence and smooth interconnectivity among different disciplines thus making them more user friendly and smart. This all may translate in speeding up the drafting and error free reporting with the help of AI. It may enhance software capabilities beyond simple drafting and reporting to meet new era requirements of digital twin.