Rolling
out the next Simulator Generation
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MOST
exploration rig managers will rarely experience the reality
of a jack-up rig's leg punching through the sea bed, a
semi-submersible losing a mooring line in a storm, or
a ship colliding and causing structural damage.
However,
with next week's inauguration of a million dollar multi-purpose
marine simulator at drilling contractor Transocean's Aberdeen
training centre, they will at least have a chance to get
an idea of how it would feel, while remaining in the relative
tranquility of a heaving cabin in an Aberdeen warehouse.
"As
far as we know, this is the only simulator in the world
that combines training in semisubmersible stability and
jack-up operations along with emergency response in a
single package" says Transocean's training manager
Jim Finlay.
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Sweating safely: the simulator cabin
Photo. SYNECTICA
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The unit can hold up
to eight people and the six-tonne cabin is mounted ona computer
controlled platform that simulates vessel motion. As well as
the cabin, the new facilities include an instructor's suite
and an observation room.
"It's very
realistic," says Finlay. "We can throw in a force
12 gale, knock engines offline, simulate blackouts, lose anchors
or break a mooring. We can simulate the effects of inclination,
wave motion on a floating vessel, and the jolts, judders and
lurches that might be associated withjack-up punch-through or
leg subsidence, shifting of weights on deck, explosions, structural
failure and collision."
Aberdeen-based
software company Pisys won the simulator contract in August
last year. Martin Delaney, of specialist marine sub-contractor
Synectica, who acted as project manager for Pisys, says: "We
have four rig models: a jack-up and three classes of semi -
a Sedco 700 series, an Aker H4 and a GVA 4000."
"The simulator
can provide a 15-degree tilt in any direction, which is about
the limit before a rig starts downflooding and is in danger
of capsizing."
There are two or
three simulators sround the world covering ballasting and marine
operations, but this unit is the first to include major emergency
training, adds Delaney.
