ARC VIEW

NOVEMBER 10, 2016

Unified Engineering Simulation Increases
Engineering Agility and Reduces Costs

By Peter Reynolds

Keywords
Engineering Simulation, SimSci, Agile, Process Engineering, SimCentral,
Schneider Electric

Summary
Oil price volatility tied to overcapacities has squeezed margins across the
oil & gas industry, significantly reducing capital spend on major expansion
projects, increasing the need to optimize existing assets, debottleneck
plants, and take out cost across the board. To support these objectives,
process and plant engineers need improved,
Oil price volatility tied to overcapacities has
easier to use design and simulation tools that
squeezed margins across the oil & gas
that reduce engineering time and effort, in-
industry, significantly reducing capital
spend on major expansion projects, crease design agility, and support emerging
increasing the need to optimize existing collaborative engineering approaches.
assets, debottleneck plants, and take out
cost across the board. To support these In the past, depending on the project phase
objectives, process and plant engineers (conceptual design, detail design, startup and
need improved, easier to use design and commissioning, process optimization, etc.)
simulation tools that that reduce and responsible party (process licensor, EPC,
engineering time and effort, increase design
owner-operator, etc.) a variety of different
agility, and support emerging collaborative
engineering tools supporting either steady
engineering approaches.
state or dynamic simulation were typically
employed, each with different models for
simulation, data entry requirements, and data and human interfaces. This
increases engineering effort and cost and inhibits agility. It also prohibits
effective use of concurrent engineering, which has been proven to reduce
costs and help compress project schedules.

That’s why leading engineering design software suppliers, such as Schnei-

der Electric’s SimSci software business, have been developing a unified
process modeling environment for both steady state and dynamic simula-
tion. The goal is to eliminate the need to re-develop models for different

VISION, EXPERIENCE, ANSWERS FOR INDUSTRY

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uses, eliminate duplicate work, and diminish the large amount of tedious
and often repetitive data entry in engineering design.

As ARC Advisory Group learned in a series of recent briefing with compa-

ny executives, Schneider Electric’s SimSci software business has created a
completely redesigned process simulation platform called SimCentral.
SimCentral has been re-written from the ground up to help users create re-
usable workflows and automate data authoring. Unlike the point solutions
previously employed, this unified platform approach to plant and process
design, engineering, and (ultimately) dynamic optimization, will enable
process engineers to focus their efforts on more value-adding activities and
creating agile work processes. Automatic creation of engineering delivera-
bles like process flow diagrams, piping and instrument diagrams, and
equipment data sheets greatly simplify the handover and data sharing be-
tween project engineering groups and to the asset owner or owner-
operator.

Key findings include:

 Simulation users want fast answers, simplified preparation, and auto-

mated creation of engineering design deliverable documents
 Deployment of new process simulation technology can help drive
down production and operations cost over the long term
 Schneider Electric’s SimSci software business has completely rede-
signed and re-written its simulation offering to create a unified
platform to replace point solutions
 SimCentral, a single unified simulation product, is easy to learn and
eliminates the need to reentering data multiple times. As a result, engi-
neers can focus on process engineering, not the tool.

Increasing Engineering Design Agility

Engineers each work within a specific project engineering discipline and
aim to produce the best possible design given the scope and requirements.
Despite the apparent complexity in the division of the engineering scope in
hydrocarbon processing facilities, the majority of equipment design is non-
proprietary and somewhat generic in nature, with unique proprietary tech-
nology usually associated with the processes themselves. In a typical
hydrocarbon processing facility, all equipment downstream of the reactor is
modeled by EPCs and engineering firms. In contrast, most process design
packages are designed and modeled by the specific technology licensors,

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and then handed over to EPCs where subsequent equipment simulations

are performed. Point solutions for engineering simulation and this waterfall
approach to process engineering both contribute to higher costs and ineffi-
cient overall design. Different disciplines and even different teams within
the same discipline all have separate models. The impact on the overall de-
sign is not known until later in the project, usually at completion of a major
stage gate.

Process simulation tools are typically used, with simulation accomplished

over several iterations. While improvements are made at each state and to
each equation, overall simulation is accomplished using a sequential water-
fall process. Here, the isolated nature of the different design tools
employed and inability for engineers to collaborate during the design, often
results in sub-optimal process design. However, platform approaches such
as SimCentral, allow the engineer to be more agile when testing a design.
SimCentral also automates testing through simulation and connection to an
engineering database.

Simulation-Driven Engineering

Since 1987, SimSci has been offering and improving its flagship simulation
product, PRO/II, to support steady-state modeling of heat and material
balances in hydrocarbon processing operations. In 2000, following the ac-
quisition of Esscor, with its proven DYNSIM product, the company could
add dynamic simulation to its software portfolio.

Fast-forward to today. Enabled by the advent of high-performance compu-

ting; the company has moved from single-purpose software products
(PRO/II, ROMeo, DYNSIM, etc.) to create the unified SimCentral simula-
tion platform. SimSci designed SimCentral to be easy to use and flexible, so
engineers can write their models on a modern platform and user interface.
According to the company, this reduces the effort required to re-use data
between steady-state simulation, dynamic simulation, and fluid flow net-
work analysis to a significant degree.

Thanks to the emergence of cloud- and high-performance computing and

modern mobile devices, SimSci developed the ability to run and interface
with multiple parallel simulations. This creates an opportunity to reconsid-
er how simulation will be used and how it should be defined. Instead of
point solutions for specific process simulations, SimSci determined that an
entirely new re-write of the tools was needed.

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To satisfy the requirements of EPCs and owner-operators alike, the compa-

ny developed SimCentral to provide the ability to model for a given process
or plant, independent of the different simulation needs, and without the
need to continually remodel and re-enter data.

This new data-driven platform approach was based on in-depth discus-

sions with major oil companies and EPCs. SimSci visited their engineering
offices and observed extensive use of Microsoft Excel to perform routine
engineering activities. From these discussions, SimSci obtained a much
clearer understanding of what its engineering customers needed to increase
agility:

 The ability to perform two-way conversion from steady state to dynam-

ic and instant recovery and ability to go back to a previous simulation
result
 Execute seamless mode changes, process, fluid flow, dynamics, to cover
the full scope of steam system engineering
 An integrated process and utilities model
 Common tools to enable project managers to more easily rotate engi-
neers through different departments
 Engineering section heads emphasized the usability of simulation tools
to improve the productivity of the engineers on a given project

Based on these takeaways, SimSci focused its new platform vision on

providing a highly usable, unified, and customizable solution for engineering
design, simulation, and optimization across the asset lifecycle.

Usability
Engineers are becoming “casual” users of simulation tools (as opposed to
simulation experts). According to SimSci, unlike the many point solutions
previously available on the market, it designed SimCentral to be easy to
learn and easy to use,

Engineers need to understand process engineering, not be experts on a

simulation tool. Legacy simulation products require that you know how the
software solves the problem. As a result, to complete engineering activities
an engineer needed to know about solver parameters, tolerances, recycles,
and specific algorithms. SimCentral was designed to minimize the mechan-
ics and keep the user focused on understanding the engineering problem
and how it can be specified through simulation. For example, when run-

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ning simulations on the platform, engineers can easily recover from mis-
takes simply by hitting an “undo” button and creating snapshots.

Integrated Solutions Are Good, a Unified Platform is Better

In the past, too many point solutions were needed during a project, requir-
ing the same plant to be independently modeled multiple times. With
SimCentral, users will no longer need to develop separate models for heat
and material balances, hydraulics, heat exchanger analysis, and dynamics.
What’s more, traditionally, simulation models have been difficult to inte-
grate to other process engineering functions and expensive to continually
update models and re-synchronize data.

Integrating point solutions with a common translator for a user interface or

data transfer mechanism could provide some relief for intensive data inte-
gration activities, but have proven to be ineffective to help create value
through collaboration across engineering disciplines or project phases

Unifying three simulation modes (process, fluid flow, and dynamic) within
a single unified tool eliminates the need to use multiple simulation prod-
ucts for one plant. SimCentral incorporates the process model (previously
available in PRO/II), the fluid flow model (previously available in VISUAL
FLARE, INPLANT, and PIPEPHASE), and the dynamic model (previously
available in DYNSIM) into a single plant model that can work in all modes.

User Customizable
Engineers need to be able to customize the equations for new equipment
models without having to rely heavily on either their company’s central
development team, the SimSci development team, or both. The SimCentral
platform approach enables users to customize their own high-level interac-
tive models. Today, SimSci customers either use the cumbersome user
modeling tools in PRO/II, ROMeo, or DYNSIM. This requires program-
ming skills and custom modeling or they must submit a request to SimSci
product management, after which the request goes into a prioritized devel-
opment queue for SimSci developers to write in FORTRAN or C++, which
is both time consuming and inefficient.

For process engineers using legacy simulation products who don’t also
happen to be software developers, creating code for custom models can be
very difficult. Even something as simple as a one-line equation for an ero-
sional velocity calculation in a pipe would have to go into the SimSci

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development queue. In the past, the only people who could address most
of these issues were those who knew both chemical and process engineer-
ing and had deep knowledge of the specific program (such as SimSci’s own
developers). This hampered simulation-related engineering activities for
end users and EPCs and made it difficult for value-added resellers to ex-
pand into new markets.

Providing users with the ability to modify and make their own model
changes is a key component for SimCentral. SimCentral users can build a
simulation that uses a new but incomplete model. As users add the equa-
tions interactively, the model tells them how much is missing and begins
working when complete.

A unified simulation platform like SimCentral will empower a gradual

change to test-driven process and plant engineering by multiple engineer-
ing disciples over the plant engineering lifecycle. Simulation-driven
engineering is analogous to agile software development, which relies on
constant integration of all components with frequent automated testing.
Other features included in the SimCentral roadmap to help make engineer-
ing simulation more agile include:

 Enabled by a link to engineering database

 Engineers from multiple disciplines make design changes into a com-
bined engineering database such as process, control systems,
instrumentation, utilities
 Both steady-state and dynamic simulation runs are kicked off automati-
cally to test accumulated design changes over the last day
 Created reports show the impact. Can the plant start properly? Are
relief valves big enough for process changes?

Cloud Provides Ubiquitous Infrastructure for Simulation

Users have been reluctant to take advantage of cloud services for process
simulation applications due to security concerns. However, as they see
how other industries (such as financial) are taking advantage of the Cloud,
it will ease their concerns. In fact, ARC believes that cloud computing is
ideal for some engineering simulation applications due to its extremely low
price point, high security, and massive scalibility.

Cloud computing benefits include eliminating the server architecture and

entire network footprint. It is also highly scalable to meet users’ needs who

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are typically charged on usage, but can also be charged with a more
predictable flat rate. Cloud computing also supports data encryption to
secure simulations over the Internet. The one downside, however, in that
since customers cannot directly control network stability, they become
highly dependent on the service provider.

The combination of ease of use, model customization, and available cloud

deployment represents an important step forward in “democratizing”
engineering simulation and making it agile enough for engineering firms
and owner-operators to employ across the full asset lifecycle to support
capital projects and ongoing plant optimization alike.

Meeting the Expectations of the Next Generation of

Process Engineers
Tomorrow’s engineers will have different expectations about when and
how to use simulation software. Tech-savvy Millennials are bringing their
own devices with them into their engineering careers. Unlike the previous
generation that grew up and completed their education without the Inter-
net, these high-performing individuals will expect data to flow seamlessly
between simulation models, effortlessly providing quick answers from any
device.

Often characterized by their ability to multitask and stay connected, young-

er engineers will run an engineering simulation while studying in their
spare time. They will not tolerate having to manually move data and/or
deal with platforms that are less than ideal for collaboration.

Conclusion
ARC believes that Schneider Electric’s recent investment in R&D and a
complete rewrite of the company’s widely used process simulation soft-
ware from the ground up to create the unified SimCentral platform, comes
at the right time to support the digital transformation of engineering and
operating companies. SimSci has committed to simplifying the use of its
technology and setting the stage to transform how process engineering is
executed.

The economic landscape today requires owner-operators and engineering

firms alike to leverage their global workforces as efficiently as possible to
reduce cost and increase agility. SimCentral addresses this by allowing
steady-state and dynamic simulation and optimization to be run not just on

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the same platform, but in the same process model.
 The new software also
allows multiple users to access the same model simultaneously, regardless
of time zone or geographical location. This enables model-driven, collabo-
rative design to leverage engineering talent across organizations, as well as
across the plant lifecycle.

SimSci realizes that for engineering firms and owner-operators to deliver

successful capital projects or sustain manufacturing operations, they need
to re-think process engineering process and how simulation tools are used
across multiple disciplines for different purposes. In the current climate of
volatile commodity prices, capital projects are under extreme scrutiny to
deliver faster ROI and reduce risk.

One key to business excellence will be changing the engineering workflow

and creating a common ”living” process model that multiple engineers and
personnel from different disciplines can utilize at the same time from any
location via the Cloud.

Schneider Electric believes that EPCs and owner-operators can realize the
following benefits by using the SimCentral platform:

 Reduce total cost of process engineering

 Reduce the manual effort required to add additional equipment types,
documents, reports, etc.
 Reduce the effort and skills required to modify the system to handle
new objects or special situations and lower the cost of project engineer-
ing
 Reduce the effort required to train new users and maintain existing us-
ers
 Create a more agile rapid response to project-specific issues to mini-
mize project impact
 Enable engineering designs to be easily reusable as templates for future
projects

For further information or to provide feedback on this article, please contact your
account manager or the author at PReynolds@arcweb.com. ARC Views are pub-
lished and copyrighted by ARC Advisory Group. The information is proprietary to
ARC and no part of it may be reproduced without prior permission from ARC.

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