| 18/11/2008 - 3-D Piping Design Slashes Costs At Shedd Aquarium Shark Reef |
Chicago’s premier tourist destination uncovers real engineering value
Complex piping design and site installations have never been easy. Often the design elements are merely shown as schematics, with the installation details left up to the pipefitters and field superintendent. Union fitters often work from sketchy elements of architectural prints. The existing piping at chemical plants and refineries, and the lack of as-built drawings, has previously made piping design a truly haphazard event. Now a proven method provides definitive answers to complex three-dimensional problems in proven, economical cost-savings.
A High Profile Client
One of the jewels of the Chicago social scene is the John G. Shedd Aquarium, downtown on Lake Shore Drive. It is one-third of the Chicago Museum Campus that includes the Field Museum of Natural History and the Adler Planetarium. During the day, the Shedd Aquarium is the locus of two million museum visitors a year. In the evening, it is the host of society white tie charity events.
When the Shedd Aquarium decided to expand its display area with the addition of the unique $45 million dollar “Wild Reef” exhibit, in a building constructed over seventy-five years ago, it was not a project for the faint of heart. More than 30 sharks would be swimming above and around the visitors in a curved 400,000 gallon habitat. There would be no margin for error.
Three Dimensional CAD Piping Design
At one time in the past, three-dimensional drawings were the exclusive purview of spacecraft engineers and luxury automobile designers. It was hard to justify the expense of mainframe capability and custom software except for the most demanding engineering applications. Things have changed in the last decade.
Specialty engineering firms using AutoPLANT piping design software can accurately visualize a complete system, as complex as any refinery, in three-dimensional accuracy. These drawings allow layout without the possibility of interference. They allow temperature/flexibility and weight calculations, parts estimates, takeoffs, and links to detail drawings. Spool drawings―detailed drawings of smaller pipe elements―allow pipe sections to be pre-assembled and match-marked in a shop, then shipped to the jobsite, just-in-time, for quick assembly. This feature alone has been proven to reduce installation cost by 50%.
Shop prefabrication of piping spools reduces on-site staff, field coordination and weather considerations. The Shedd Aquarium need to field-fabricate only sixteen spools for final fit-up. Savings on field labor alone were $80,000. Warming tents and wind breaks were largely eliminated.
PDC Engineering, Inc. is a Chicago-based consulting firm that specializes in piping design. Contractors, end-users and larger engineering firms often hire PDC for their specialty skills. This outsourcing is considerably more economical than staffing a department with these unique technical skills on a permanent basis. Again, a cost comparison demonstrates an engineering savings of 60-80%
An informative CAD movie of the entire Shedd Aquarium project, as designed by PDC Engineering, can be found on their website at www.pdc1.com.
Intelligent piping and instrumentation drawings (P&IDs) allow accessibility to details of every element of the system; including ASME pressure vessels, valve specifications, bills of materials, stress analysis, pipe supports, racks and platforms. When only a few final connections are required in the field, the production of as-built drawings is child’s play. In 1997, PDC provided the detailed piping design for a $10 million dollar Liquid Propane Gas (LPG) facility in Shanghai, which was fabricated entirely by Asian contractors. The field assembly and installation was flawless, exceeding all expectations, and proving the advantages of the PDC system approach.
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“Installation costs reduced 50%…
(with)…engineering savings of 60-80%”
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Summary
High quality piping design, as available from a consulting firm like PDC, slashes engineering costs, because these unique services are available on an as-needed basis. Fabrication costs are also reduced, because the system is so accurate, almost all the pipe sections can be pre-fabricated in the shop. Installation costs are reduced, because pre-fabrication of over 95% of the pipe sections greatly simplifies and reduces on-site labor and supervision. 3-D views allow verification of all clearances and greatly facilitate construction meetings and quick understanding of the design. All of this means reduced errors, problems and costs for end users. It also means more successful projects for those contractors involved in the specification and design process, by offering the ability to submit lower bids than less knowledgeable competitors.
Contact:
Jim Tarkowski
PDC Engineering
2122 South Wolf Road
Des Plaines, IL 60018
Tel: (847) 795-9800
Fax: (847) 795-1049
Email: info@pdc1.com
Web: www.pdc1.com
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