IIT Madras creates indigenous system for ONGC to extend life of offshore oil platforms

For Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), the Indian Institute of Madras researchers has created a locally produced lifecycle management system to cut the cost of upkeep and rehabilitation of offshore oil installations.

The Offshore Structures Group from the Department of Ocean Engineering, IIT Madras, created the "Structural Integrity Management System" (SIMS). With the press of a button, it is possible to retrieve important data regarding structural and other design-related data from its sizable database management system, saving ONGC a great deal of time and work.

The implementation of engineering, inspection, maintenance, monitoring, and remediation activities is known as "structural integrity management," and it is necessary to show that a structure is fit for use for its intended application for the duration of its service life as well as to prevent or mitigate serious or catastrophic health, safety, environmental, or structural events.

The SIM process offers a proactive way to monitor, assess, and evaluate the structural condition as well as a method to verify an offshore structure's suitability for service.

During a ceremony on the IIT Madras campus today, Prof. V. Kamakoti, Director of IIT Madras, presented the SIMS system to Shri Pankaj Kumar, Director (Offshore), ONGC (14th July 2022)

Congratulating the Ocean Engineering Department Researchers and ONGC on development of this system, Prof. V. Kamakoti, Director, IIT Madras, said, “We are not just an academic institution as our researchers have developed a product that is in the market. I am sure this software will contribute towards ‘Atmanirbharta,’ which is very important. Today, tons and tons of your personal data is going (abroad). This IIT Madras contribution is extremely important in keeping ONGC data from going out. This data, if collected in a streamlined manner for some years, can help in the development of indigenous start-ups that can develop Aatma Nirbhar technologies.”

Prof. V. Kamakoti added, “The Structural Integrity Management System is a very important system. Along with the oil that ONGC is drilling, it is also drilling data, which is extremely important. Real-time sensors can enable inspection every second, instead of periodical frequencies. We can also develop AI and ML Tools to predict when inspections would be required.”

Speaking about this system, Prof. S. Nallayarasu, Head, Department of Ocean Engineering, IIT Madras, who headed the Research Team that developed SIMS, said, “SIMS process provides a proactive approach to monitor, evaluate and assess structural condition and establish a procedure to validate the fitness-for- service of an offshore structure. it includes development of database management system for more than 330 platforms, development of Reliability Analysis Scheme for fatigue life of tubular joints and development of a Risk-Based Underwater Inspection Methodology (RBUI).”

Published on: Thursday, July 14, 2022, 07:17 PM IST