A group photo of the joint team during ADaPT system commissioning and technology handover.
From as far back as over two decades, oil and gas companies have used quantitative engineering evaluations, models and simulations to demonstrate the structural integrity of assets and predict their reaction to various physical conditions, from vibration to heat, fluid flow as well as other physical effects.
Through these evaluations – called Finite Element Analysis and Fitness for Service – owners can gain an insight as to whether the assets are safe to operate.
However, there is a risk of possible asset failure, causing unplanned shutdowns to occur, racking up seven and sometimes eight-figure losses.
At this juncture global Malaysian energy company, PETRONAS sought to delve into the matter by enlisting expertise from both industry and academia to solve one of the oil and gas industry’s most crucial pain points ‒ securing a diagnosis and prognosis on the structural health of an asset with a higher confidence level compared to conventional options.
The timing could not have been more opportune. The advent of machine learning, artificial intelligence (AI), cloud computing and the Internet of Things (IoT), among others, were opening new windows of opportunity to create increasingly sophisticated and advanced structural health monitoring solutions.
These had the potential of providing early detection of structural and mechanical damage in civil infrastructure systems and industrial assets, as well as predicting their remaining life expectancy with greater accuracy and continuously.
This helps safeguard the integrity of these assets and prevent costly, unplanned shutdowns.
PETRONAS piping stress and vibration solutions custodian Faizul Azly Abd Dzubir who works at the Mechanical Department of Engineering under Group Technical Solutions (GTS) for Project Delivery and Technology (PD&T) was tasked with leading the project in 2012.
The mechanical engineer remembers the early years: “From the industry, such as PETRONAS Chemicals MTBE Sdn Bhd (PCMTBE), we met senior mechanical engineer M Adnan Ayob, who was enthusiastic about the potential of the technology and eager to be part of the codebreaker,” he recalls.
Securing like-minded partners in academia, however, proved to be more challenging, until the meeting with Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS (UTP) associate professor Dr Abdul Rahim Othman.
Abdul Rahim, who heads the Digital Analytic for Structural Integrity Technology (Dasit) centre at UTP, was no stranger to the field of structural health monitoring and the conventional approaches used in the industry to determine asset integrity, as well as their shortcomings.
“During each inspection window, manual checks are conducted, and the data collected is then studied,” says Abdul Rahim, pointing out that not only are the inspections undertaken manually, relying on visual signs of damage, but they are also costly.
“It would require the plant or operations to be shut down and each piece of equipment inspected, scanned and analysed manually.
“Then there is the issue of parts. For some industries, parts replacement can be done quickly but not so in heavy industries and sectors such as oil and gas, where work stoppages incur significant costs, up to millions a day.”
In 2018, GTS, PCMTBE and UTP embarked on a joint effort that would soon change the landscape of structural health monitoring.
Two years later, the Advanced Diagnostics and Prognostic Technology (ADaPT) was unveiled and launched across PETRONAS facilities.
Integrating IoT, physics-based analysis, mathematical probabilistics, AI, machine learning, cloud computing and edge computing principles, ADaPT predicts the earliest signs of mechanical damage with accurate remaining life prediction at a 94%-99% confidence level.
The ground-breaking technology can replace manual, conventional inspections and analysis by predicting structural and mechanical cracks through continuous online monitoring, offering accurate prediction based on pressure, temperature and flow patterns – avoiding unplanned shutdowns of plants.
“The technology essentially allows us to put eyes and ears on the plant and equipment 24/7. The data obtained can be accessed anywhere and at any time – providing critical information for decision-making, for example, preventing unplanned shutdowns as well as prioritising and optimising resources.
“ADaPT’s remaining life prediction on the assets allows companies to undertake predictive maintenance.
“The typical reaction to damage would be to stop operations, repair and replace the equipment. Thanks to ADaPT you can assess the damage, continue monitoring and replace the asset only at the next planned maintenance,” says Abdul Rahim.
According to Faizul, between 2018 and 2023, thanks to ADaPT, PETRONAS has clocked significant cost savings by avoiding unplanned shutdowns.
Today, ADaPT is deployed across most of the operating units at PETRONAS such as PCMTBE and PETRONAS Chemicals Fertiliser Kedah Sdn Bhd.
The technology is also blazing a trail in the energy and oil and gas sectors, winning over companies such as ASEAN Bintulu Fertilizer Sdn Bhd.
The ADaPT was recognised with the 2024 OTC Asia Spotlight on New Technology Award.
The technology has secured industry recognition – winning the Spotlight on New Technology Award at the OTC Asia 2024 and more recently a silver medal at the International Exhibition of Inventions Geneva.
This industry-academia collaboration has also proven to be a boon for UTP; boosting Dasit’s revenues by six-fold from 2019 to 2023.
With the global structural health monitoring industry witnessing rapid growth in recent years, Dasit has also enhanced its suite of structural health monitoring solutions with new innovations such as the Statistical Tube Exchanger Analytic and Reliability (STELLAR), Insulated Piping Reliability Programme (INSPIRE), Fitness for Service Level 3 (FFS), Smart Tagging System (STS) and SHM for Composite Repair Integrated Management System (CoRIMS ) and TechVision for confined space robotic inspection.
According to market researcher Future Market Insights, the global structural health monitoring market is expected to grow from US$3.4bil in 2022 to US$13.15bil by 2032, with the overall demand rising at 14.5% compound annual growth rate throughout the forecast period.
Abdul Rahim sees tremendous potential in structural health monitoring solutions in sectors beyond oil and gas such as marine, construction as well as the rail transport sectors, and expects the centre’s revenue to hit RM25mil in 2024.
“The outlook is bright thanks to both the demand for structural health monitoring as well as advancements in the infrastructure, for example rising Internet speeds have allowed for more competitive computing power. The growth of this industry is only just beginning, and we are catching that wave,” he says.
For more information and enquiries, email consultancy@utp.edu.my.
