Below the Surface with Pro/ENGINEER Expert Framework
by Jerry Fireman

The design of foundations and protection structures for subsea production and processing systems presents a great challenge for FMC mechanical designers. These intricate space frames, called templates, are needed to support millions of dollars of equipment and protect it from damage. The templates are built from dozens of structural members with special profiles or cross-sections selected for their load-bearing properties.

Each connection between these structural members requires a complex contour, called a cut, to be machined into one of the members so that it will snugly mate to the other member. Defining the geometry of these cuts can be a time-consuming operation.

The sizes and types of equipment supported by the template changes between projects and during the life of a project. So when adapting the template to the new equipment—such as increasing the length of the template or switching profiles of the structural members—it usually affects the cuts between the members in the structure.

These kinds of changes are often time consuming because the cuts have to be redefined in response to design changes.

Time-consuming manual process. Another complication comes with the use of reinforcement members which have special profiles and are used in specific positions to make the structure more robust. Reinforcement members are typically required to maintain a constant angle with one another. Problems arise when the overall dimensions of the template change because this alters the relative orientation of the reinforcement members. Designers often have to manually calculate the correct position for the reinforcement members and then recalculate the cuts in order to mate the reinforcement members to each other and to other structural members.

Pro/ENGINEER Expert Framework (EFX) automates the design process.
FMC has set about trying to improve this process by using Pro/ENGINEER Expert framework to automate the repetitive and tedious aspects of designing a structural framework. FMC mechanical designers now create a conceptual model of the space frame using points and curves which represent the location of the members.

FMC designers then select standard cross-sections to convert the lines into structural members with the correct profiles. Pro/ENGINEER Expert Framework automates the process of converting the lines to structural members and joints and cuts can be created between the members.

The points and curves are parametrically associated to the complete design. Designers can change the dimensions of the structure, move beams, swap one beam size for another, or change the beam profile completely. The software will then parametrically update the design—including other beams—and connect and calculate all the new joints. Pro/ENGINEER Expert Framework is fully integrated with the rest of Pro/ENGINEER so designers can view the template in the context of the other building blocks in the system.

With this kind of tool, designers can easily create a draft product in the beginning of a project, and later—when the project are more defined—recreate the design after new input from the customer.

“With Pro/ENGINEER Expert Framework we can reduce engineering costs” says FMC Template Engineering Group Manager. “Most important, we can design and build the templates in less time so our customers can get wells into production more quickly”.