Streamlined for success

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Gary Carson, Equamark, Inc., USA, explains how CADWorx plant software

helped Bilfinger Berger Services improve collaboration and reduce costs at a fuel

terminal project in Australia.

ort Botany is Australia's second largest container port and is responsible for a third of total cargo movements. In 2005, Sydney Ports Corporation obtained government approval for a major expansion of its container port facilities at Port Botany involving reclamation of 60 ha of land which, in 2006, was further expanded to add a fifth berth adjacent to the previously approved expansion area. Adjacent to the existing Patrick terminal, the expansion will provide significant additional capacity to meet projected long term trade growth.

After the expansion is completed in 2011, 3.2 million containers will pass through the port each year, thereby doubling the port’s current capacity. The first berths are to be available for trade in 2012. The expansion is one of the

largest port projects to be undertaken in Australia in the last 30 years.

MeetingfueldemandsSince 1995, Vopak Sydney Terminals Pty Ltd, New South Wales (NSW), Australia, has operated the site B bulk liquids storage facility at Port Botany in the Randwick LGA. This facility is one of the largest bulk liquid storage facilities for jet fuel, gasoline and diesel in the Sydney Metropolitan Region, with a capacity of 185 000 m³. The facility was first developed in two stages: stage B1 and stage B2. Stage B1 was approved in 1995 and included 12 bulk liquids storage tanks with a total capacity of 126 800 m³. Stage B2 was approved in 1998 and included five additional storage tanks, increasing the total capacity of the site to 185 000 m³. Petroleum products are delivered to the site by road tanker (5%), pipeline (15%) and ship (80%) and transported from the site by road tanker (35%), pipeline (55%) and ship (10%).

Demand for Vopak’s facilities was outstripping its current storage capacity at the site B facility, and fuel demand in NSW was forecast to outstrip supply in the coming decades. To meet this growing demand, Vopak decided it was time to further expand the facility within the southern portion of site B, with this expansion to be known as stage B3. The initial proposal involved nine additional storage tanks with a capacity of 158 000 m³ plus associated infrastructure including three new pipelines, with an estimated capital investment of AUS$ 80 million. As described in the project proposal, approximately 100 workers would be required during construction.

Streamlined

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Major components of the project included site preparation work, storage tank construction, pipelines, manifolds, transfer staff amenities, tanker loading arm construction, fire protection systems, a wastewater treatment plant, and other elements. Upon completion, the expansion will almost double the storage capacity at the site, and increase annual throughput from 2100 million ltrs to 3950 million ltrs.

KeyplayerBilfinger Berger’s historical roots reach back to 1880, when August Bernatz completed his first large project in what was then the German province of Lorraine. The other forerunners of Bilfinger Berger, Julius Berger Tiefbau AG and Berlinische Boden-Gesellschaft, were both founded in 1890. In 1969, Julius Berger AG merged with Bauboag, the successor of Berlinische Boden-Gesellschaft, and in 1975, a merger of all of these firms took place to form Bilfinger + Berger Bauaktiengesellschaft. The name was changed in 2001 to Bilfinger Berger AG as part of a strategic reorientation.

In early 2008, Bilfinger Berger was selected for a € 220 million new container port in Sydney, part of the expansion at Botany Bay, involving five additional berths for large container ships. Australia is the biggest market in Bilfinger Berger’s civil business segment.

FueltankexpansionprojectBilfinger Berger Services Pty Ltd (BBS), Australia, part of Bilfinger Berger AG, is a specialised engineering and asset management contractor. The company was awarded

a US$ 50 million contract for design, construction and installation for Vopak Australia’s B3A fuel terminal expansion project at Botany Bay, NSW, which involves five additional fuel storage tanks, used for a variety of products such as jet fuel, gasoline and diesel. Each of the five storage tanks is 24 m high with a capacity of 78 300 m3. This contract was part of the third phase in the Botany Port terminal expansions project. For the Volpak fuel terminal facilities, BBS was to provide the design, supply and installation of the Botany terminal B3A expansion for these five additional fuel storage tanks.

recognisingneedPrior to working on this expansion project for Vopak at Botany Bay, BBS had used a CAD piping program that was complex to learn and cumbersome to use, which meant they had to rely heavily upon their most experienced piping drafters to drive it. However, not long before the Vopak expansion project, the situation at BBS changed unexpectedly when the company lost a few of these experienced drafters in quick succession and were exposed to the potential for failure. The company then made a fundamental change in approach and decided to acquire several packages of CADWorx software. The CADWorx Plant Design Suite, developed by COADE, is a comprehensive software series for the design of process plants, piping and other industrial installations. This was a wise move as it could be easily used by piping design engineers to fill in the gaps, which was not possible with the old software.

EliminatingmanualinputBy using CADWorx, BBS could successfully customise piping isometrics using Isogen, without the need for any manual input. All of the service information on the isometrics was extracted from the piping database. This not only made things easier than before, it also eliminated checking. The tools in CADWorx made attractive isometrics automatic and simple to produce because isometrics could be generated from the model or from project databases, such as piping as was used by BBS. The software also made it easy to define parameters for borders, automatic dimensioning, tagging and bills of material. This ability to generate automatic isometrics from the model or from project databases provided unlimited flexibility and saved on costs by reducing errors and improving overall productivity for designers and engineers involved on the project. CADWorx helped BBS model all pipelines on a project in one drawing file or a few sub files, reducing the number of externally referenced files. For the Vopak project at the Botany Bay port expansion, piping isometrics were issued two months ahead of schedule and the project was well advanced for completion before the end of 2008.

KeytosuccessThe complexity and workload for BBS on the Botany project called for an improvement in project collaboration. By leveraging the capabilities of CADWorx equipment, CADWorx Steel and CADWorx Plant tools, BBS could prepare collaborative plant modules. These software modules proved useful for BBS for their own internal reviews between the various disciplines as well as between BBS and the client. These modules proved not only convenient to pass on information for civil and structural detail design but also to issue piping isometrics for shop fabrication and site

Figure 2. Pipe support modelling was easer and more accurate due to bidirectional links between plant design and pipe stress analysis packages.

Figure 1. BBS reported 60% savings using intelligent CAD design tools to design additional fuel storage tanks for Vopak’s facility at Botany Bay.

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installation. BBS engineers could issue bills of material for procurement as required, such as for field run piping.

Easy3DmodellingThe 3D steel modelling package that BBS used on this project, CADWorx Steel, includes a complete range of design tools plus international steel shapes, in both imperial and metric units. With these tools, any structural designer or engineer could place metric or imperial shapes in either environment without modification and create user shapes derived from any extruded profile. Because these steel members are intelligent, they were easily modified by being selected and their properties changed. The tools and intelligence in the package made designing even complex 3D steel structures as simple as drawing in 2D. For BBS, CADWorx Steel could output to popular database formats while its full auditing capabilities kept the model and database synchronised at all times. Plus, user configurable bills of material could be selected from the plant model or from the external database.

Easier and fasterFor further collaboration during the project, BBS also leveraged the tools in CADWorx equipment, a hierarchical parametric equipment modeller. These tools make for easy and fast modelling of 3D equipment because building equipment is as simple as entering values in an easy to use build tree. The program makes it easy for designers and engineers to build any type of equipment, such as vessels, exchangers, tanks and pumps, plus such items as skirts, shells, reducing cones, heads, body flanges, nozzles, platforms, ladders and supports. For pumps, they could choose suction and discharge nozzles, impellers, motors, base plates and any other required items.

EnhancingcollaborationLive database links in CADWorx allowed any number of users to connect to a common external project database. Model additions and deletions from any designer are constantly monitored to ensure that the model and external project databases are always synchronised.

BidirectionallinksBBS was able to perform pipe support modelling and detailing, develop piping arrangement drawings from the model and export piping model for stress analysis using CAESAR II. This was made possible by the bidirectional links to stress analysis built into CADWorx. For example, the designer or engineer can output pipe models from CADWorx to CAESAR II. These are already in its native file format. The designer or engineer can then import subsequent routing, pipe support and system modifications made in CAESAR II directly back into the model.

DetectingpotentialerrorsThe CADWorx design review module that comes with CADWorx allows designers, managers, owners and other stakeholders to review 3D plant and ancillary models quickly and intuitively at various stages, reducing the need to interpret the design via paper printouts and other non-interactive tools. Built in intuitive tools in the module can be used to provide such review deliverables as markups, comments, red lining and animations. When using animations during model review, the view direction of the animated

path can be defined independently of the direction of travel, allowing the user to select any view and direction from any angle. During a collaborative project such as this one for Vopak, this tool gives all stakeholders the opportunity for visual verification of the model at each phase of the project, which can uncover potential errors and omissions early in the process, saving time and expense for all involved if these findings had been missed.

reducingbottomlinecostsOverall, CADWorx allowed BBS to reduce its piping engineering and drafting budget without any loss in the accuracy of details. The estimated savings were 60% compared to what would have occurred using the previous software program or other methods. According to BBS, the program saved them significant time and eliminated many frustrations both in the design office and in the field. Using CADWorx showed almost complete elimination of errors.

With the project completed in 2008, BBS is currently involved in the next phase of the expansion project at Botany Bay.

PortBotanyupdate,July2008In July 2008, Premier Morris Iemma announced the start of construction on one of the largest infrastructure projects in Australia: the AUS$ 1 billion expansion of Port Botany. According to the announcement, Sydney Ports contracted the Baulderstone, Jan De Nul Consortium to design and construct the terminal and related environmental and community works. Baulderstone and Jan De Nul both have international experience in construction, specifically in the design and delivery of major civil and ports infrastructure.

The project involves the development of 60 ha with five new shipping berths and 1850 m of new wharves. Officials stated that more than 2000 jobs will be created during the project’s construction with 9000 permanent jobs once the third terminal is up and running. Port Botany is Australia’s second largest container port and trade is expected to double by 2020. The port is a crucial hub for more than AUS$ 40 billion in trade each year, with port related activity currently employing up to 10 000 people. With 99% of Australia’s international trade transported by sea, Sydney’s ports are seen as pivotal to the nation’s economic future, and the Port Botany expansion is expected to help address growing demand in the coming decades.

noteThis article was based in part on an interview with Tony Fernandes, Chief Piping and Layout Engineering, Bilfinger Berger Services.

Figure 3. Intelligent 3D steel modelling tools in CADWorx Steel made designing even complex steel structures as simple as drawing in 2D.